Kamen Rider Gaim and Avatar
by Chr1sXIII
Summary: Two heroes, one destiny. Plot focuses on Kamen Rider Gaim series with new characters and riders along with elements. Disclaimers I don't own Kamen Rider Gaim or Legend of Korra. This is my second fanfiction. Kouta/Korra pairing. On hiatus until further notice.
1. Henshin! And Orange from the Sky!

**Hey folks! I know that you're all looking forward to the new Tsukune Farron chapter in Tsukune Farron, but I took the time to make this Kamen Rider/Legend of Korra crossover fanfic instead! (Yes I like watching Kamen Rider and Legend of Korra) The p****lot focuses on the Kamen Rider Gaim universe. And have you all seen the last Kamen Rider Gaim episode? It's almost over! I'm gonna cry! :'( (Not really, it was fun while it lasted) Anyway, enjoy!**

**Disclaimers: I don't own Kamen Rider Gaim or Legend of Korra**

* * *

_Obtaining Heaven._

We take the scene to a wide and vast green forest growing colorful and oddly-shaped fruits, and they appear to be quickly growing higher. In the center there's a 50 floor white building in the shape of a tree, and it looks worn down and abandoned.

Next we go to a battlefield, where a blue-suited samurai warrior with some golden linings on his arms and legs, riding a horse. He had an orange themed armor on his helmet, shoulder pads, a plate chest, a silver mouth piece, a sliced orange shaped visor, and a golden crescent shaped headdress on his forehead with a diamond through it which looks like a crescent katana. He wore a belt buckle with a knife-like lever to the right, and there's an orange fruit-like lock in the center which appeared to be sliced open. He holds two weapons, a katana/gun weapon hybrid to the left side of his waist, and an orange sliced katana in his right hand. He is Kamen Rider Gaim, the orange armored warrior.

Next to him is a female red body-suited Starfruit themed Chinese warrior who too, is riding on a horse. She wore a black sleeveless kimono with red linings on her arms and legs, and a starfruit themed yellow plating armor on her arms, chest and helmet with two visors for eyes, and a silver mouthpiece. She also wields a belt buckle similar to Gaim, only it has a sliced starfruit lock in it. She wields a yellow Jian, a Chinese double-edged sword with a sliced starfruit for a hilt, and a yellow-green handle. She is Kamen Rider Mulan **(1)**.**  
**

Behind the two is an entire legion of bulky gray and blue insect-like monsters. They almost resemble ticks, and some of them have wings to fly. And by the looks of things, they were ready for war.

_Painting the world in your colors._

_Is that the glory you seek?_

Across them is another armored warrior, riding on a rose themed motorcycle. He resembles a European knight with a red and white bodysuit, and the fruit motif is banana. He had a banana-like lock in his belt, a yellow visor, with banana-like horns on his helmet, and with his chest armor. In his hand he carries a banana-like spear, resembling as a jouster. He is Kamen Rider Baron.

Behind him to the left is another armored warrior, who resembles a viking with an acorn motif, along with an acorn-themed hammer. He is Kamen Rider Gridon.

Like with Gaim and Mulan, they have a legion of gray insect-like creatures, only difference is that their secondary color is red instead. And there seemed to be armored watermelon troopers flying in the sky. _Can you bear that heavy responsibility?_

We take the scene to the sky where Kamen Rider Gaim's army in a formation of an orange and Baron's army are in the shape of a banana. And there's a third army formation, resembling a green melon.

In the third army consisted of the same insect-like creatures, whose color are green, and behind them are large armored samurai-like mechas with a watermelon motif to each, in which case, they are the mecha forms of the watermelon troopers. And in front of them was a white body-suited armored samurai warrior with green and golden melon armor on his chest, shoulders, and helmet along with a green visor, and a golden stag headdress on his head. Sitting down with both hands, he holds the same gun/sword hybrid gun as Gaim and it's dug in the ground. And on his left arm, he holds a green melon themed shield that resembles his head. His name is Kamen Rider Zangetsu.

Next to him is another Chinese armored warrior with a green bodysuit, purple grapes for armor, and a purple visor. And he carries a Chinese gun with a grape motif. He is Kamen Rider Ryugen.

Back to the part of the forest, there laid a strawberry blonde haired girl in white clothing, sleeping on the ground with the same strange plants and fruits growing around her. She woke up to reveal a red eye in her right. She is the Priestess of Fate.

_People can't even control their own lives..._

Kamen Rider Gaim looked to his left to see the girl on a cliff with a red flower in her hair. She also held one of the strange fruit in her left hand. Watching the battle before her.

_So no one can run from, nor defy the raging waves called fate, sweeping them away._

Suddenly, the wind blew the red flower out of her hair, and she gasped in surprised, and the flower hit the ground.

With that, Gaim gave a battle cry as he, Mulan, and their army charged forward to battle.

_However, if fate ordered you to change the world to shape the future with your own hands._

Baron and Gridon did the same along with their troops, with the red rider in the lead of course. And Zangetsu and Ryugen stood up, ready to join the fight as well.

_You wouldn't be able to resist it._

Gaim and Baron's army began to fight as their soldiers began to open fire on each other, killing one another, all in the name of war.

Beyond them on a cliff, stood three more armored warriors. One in the middle, is an Eskimo themed warrior and female. She had a light blue bodysuit with white linings, a sky blue kimono-like tunic armor, along with a sapphire wolf like helmet with a ponytail, a white visor for eyes, and metal plated shoulder armor with her matching left gauntlet. And on her gauntlet is a porthole for locks like Gaim's gun/sword hybrid weapon. Like the other riders, she has a watermelon motif to her armor with a sliced watermelon lock in her belt, and strangely the color of the skin was blue **(14) **on the outside and white **(15) **on the inside. (A/N: It's a white wonder watermelon, look it up) And unlike the other riders, her belt's color has blue and white markings, and she holds an Inuit spear with a sliced white watermelon as a spearhead wrapped around in bandages at the bottom. Her name is Kamen Rider Avatar **(2)**, and she appears to be ready to join the battle as she held a lock with the image of a lychee **(16)** fruit with 'LS-AIR' **(11)** on it as an imprint.**  
**

Next to her right is another samurai-like warrior, whose motif is chili pepper, his suit color is dark red and gray linings, samurai armor plating's color is red with green appendages on his shoulders, a black visor, and his samurai helmet has a sun headdress with two chili peppers on each side as horns. To further his resemblance to his fruit motif, he wields two red katanas with green hilts and stems at the bottom. And the color of his belt buckle is red and dark red. His name is Kamen Rider Masamune. **(3)**

And to her left is another Chinese themed soldier with a green coconut motif, his bodysuit looks like a long-sleeve tunic and its color is gray with light green linings. He has emerald green coconut chest and shoulder armor with a Chinese Summer hat on his head, and has a gray visor. And like the two, his belt's color is green and yellow, and he wields two Chui **(17)** hammer weapons with green coconuts as the hammer parts of course. He is Kamen Rider Nuktuk **(4)**. (A/N: If anyone has a better name for him, please PM me.)**  
**

And behind her is a large female Great Pyrenees-like creature with the body of a bear, whose fur color is white as a polar bear. She is wearing matching armor on her back, hind legs, shoulders, and a saddle like a horse. And like with Gaim's and Avatar's weapon, she has a lock porthole on the back of her armor. Her name is Naga, and she is Kamen Rider Avatar's loyal friend and steed.

_But, the world would be put into your care._

Zangetsu and Ryugen stood there watching the fight as Gaim and Baron's army are about to clash, and the Priestess of Fate watched with worry and sorrow. Avatar's visor was glowing bright as she unlocked her fruit lock with light shining out of it.

* * *

**(The scene now zipped to reveal the opening)**

**(Insert OP: Just Live More by Gaim no Kaze)**

(The opening begins with Kamen Rider Gaim, Baron, Ryugen, and Zangetsu in their battle stance with a fence behind their backs with locks. They were then switched by Gaim with Avatar, Baron with Mulan, Ryugen with Nuktuk, and Zangetsu with Masamune. And the camera now focusing on Avatar switching to Gaim who readied his sword.)

**Got it, Move...Wow,  
**(Helheim's vines diminished as they reveal the four elements, earth, fire, air, and water. They were cut down by slashes until the title of the series reveals itself.)

**Kamen Rider Gaim/Avatar**

**Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!  
Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!  
**(We cut to the eight riders in a room full of samurai armor as they took their pose. The scene shifted to Gaim in an empty world while he held out his Musou Saber with Kouta's reflection under him, holding his sword of course.)**  
Sabaibaru! You got move. Gendai wa sanagara Sengoku  
Survival! You got move. The present day is just like the Sengoku period.**

(Kouta ran towards the screen, but stopped when a fence with locks blocked his path. He then sees his double in front of him, holding a Lockseed, and he calls out to him. But he and the fence immediately turned into stone, then to dust and blown away by the wind as the other Kouta simply walked away.)

**Dare ga kachinukeru? Kagi wa hirake rarete shimatta!**

**Who will win? The lock has been opened!  
**(We take the next scene to Team Baron, with Kaito leading in front of Zack, and Peco, who are dancing in front of a building. We shift to Kouta and Kaito, who looked at each other with Lockseeds in their hands. Kouta holding his Orange Lockseed and Kaito holding his Banana Lockseed. Below them is their reflection in their rider forms, Kamen rider Gaim and Kamen Rider Baron, who darted towards each other to fight. We shift to Korra, Asami, Mako, and Bolin who had their backs turned to each other and took their battle stance, and their reflections replaced by their rider counterparts Avatar, Mulan, Masamune, and Nuktuk did the same, only with their weapons in their hands.)

**Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!**

**Doko ni aru?**

**Where is it?**

**Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!**

(We shift back to Gaim and Baron's fight, and in their reflection Kouta and Kaito were in some kind of hand-wrestle with their lockseeds in their hands. We go to Micchy, who picked up his Budou Lockseed and saw his older brother, Takatora, holding his Melon Lockseed. And their Rider counterparts are in their reflections. He ran towards him, but like with Kouta, a fence with locks blocked his path before Takatora looked behind to see his younger brother and Zangetsu held his Musou Saber near Ryugen's neck.)**  
Do tsukau, kindan no kajitsu?!  
How shall it be used, that forbidden fruit?!**

**(**Back in the room where the riders posed, one by one appeared from Gaim to Avatar. We go to Gaim in Suika Arms only to go gyro mode, and Baron, drove right past him on Rose Attacker. And the next scene shows the characters Henshin with their Sengoku Drivers in order, from Zangetsu to Masamune, Ryugen, Nuktuk, Baron, Mulan, Avatar, and Gaim.) **  
`Ima' to iu kaze wa nani o tsutaeru tame? [Omae no moto ni fuku? Tsuyoku Tsuyoku! Blowin' up!]**

**What is the wind of the moment trying to say? [Is it blowing to you? Get stronger, much stronger! Blowin' up!]**

(Gaim drew his Musou Saber to battle, and he slashed an inves with his hybrid weapon across the stomach. Next we go to Team Gaim dancing in front of their headquarters, then we go to Team Fire Ferrets headquarters with the team doing their dance, and the same goes to Mulan. The cameras then shifts focus on Kouta, Mai, Micchy, Korra, Mako, Bolin, and Asami dancing. And we go to Kouta greeting Mai and their reflections show Kaito with the Priestess of Fate, who looks like Mai.)**  
**(We go to Zangetsu who aims his Musou Saber at the screen with an army of pinecone samurai themed riders behind him holding spears. Next we have Kamen Rider Gaim with Avatar slashing down the pinecone themed riders while Baron and Mulan did the same in Gaim and Avatar's reflection.)

**Ashita ga yume ga mada mienakute mo [Soko genkai? Seiippai ikite iru to ierunara?]**

**Even if you can't dream of the future [Is that your limit? Can you say you're living without your might?]  
(**In a forest, Kamen Rider Ryugen shoots down a fence blocking his path and ran forward and we go back to Team Gaim/Fire Ferrets/Mulan in a three way split screen who finished their dance, disappeared. And we focus on Gaim's outside headquarters to be replaced by the Priestess of Fate, who points towards the screen.)**  
**(Next we focus on Gaim's arms, Lockseed, and Daidaimaru to the floor, and we focus back to Gaim slicing down to the screen with the pinecone riders standing behind him.)

**Utsumuku na yo... [Kao agero!] Doko madede mo... [Mageru koto naku!]**

**Don't look down... [Lift up your face!] No matter where you are... [Don't become twisted!]  
**(We shift to Banana arms with the Banana Lockseed and Banaspear, then to Team Baron finishing their dance, and we go to Kamen Rider Baron slashing down inves in the mysterious forest with his banaspear and finished with a pose. Next we shift to Starfruit Arms with the Starfruit Lockseed and Starfruit Saber, Budou Arms with the Grape Lockseed and Budou Ryuhou, Melon Arms with the Melon Lockseed and the Melon Defender, Fire Arms with the Fire Chili Pepper Lockseed and Togarashimaru, Earth Arms with the Earth Coconut Lockseed and Cocochui, and Water Arms with the Water Watermelon Lockseed and Suikaspear.)

**Shinjita michi o yuke, JUST LIVE MORE!  
Follow the path you believe in, Just Live More!**

(All eight riders are back to back with each other, swinging and aiming their weapons towards the screen. We next go to Kouta who ran towards the fence of locks, screaming until the premature Lockseed fruits and plants grew around him.)

**Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!**

(Finally, we see Kamen Rider Gaim riding on his horse to battle along with Avatar riding on Naga by his side.)

* * *

**Chapter 1: Henshin! An Orange from the Sky?!**

**Zawame City, shopping district**

In an afternoon, we first take the scene at a shopping district in a city where lots of people are walking by, going through their daily lives. Among them is a young man talking to a crying young boy.

"I see, so you got separated from your mama huh?" the young man asked the crying child and got a nod in response.

He has short black hair, tanned skin, dark brown eyes, donning a light yellow jacket with a logo on his back saying 'Indian Restaurant Panjubi,' a yellow shirt, dark blue jeans, and white sneakers. His name is Kouta Kazuraba, former member of a dance group called Team Gaim and is now working at his part-time jobs. He quit the team to start working part-time, so that he could learn what it means to be an adult.

"Everyone wants to cry sometimes." Kouta continued before he knelt down to the boy's level and placed a hand on his shoulder in comfort, "But you shouldn't give into those moments. Just treat that conflict like a game." this cheered up the boy a bit.

"If you cry, then you lose the game." he placed his other hand on the boy's shoulder, and the boy stopped crying, "And if you find a way not to cry, then you win. Anyone can fight when you need to. So, what can you do right now?"

"Find Mama." the little boy said with a little determination.

"Good!" the Kouta said happily and the two began their 'game.'

"Hey Mom!" Kouta shouted as the two were walking across the district.

"Mama!" the little boy joined in.

"Hey Mom, your son's looking for you!"

"Kenichi!" a woman's shouted from behind, Kouta and the boy called Kenichi turned around. The boy ran to hug her, and the two were happily reunited.

"Way to go! You've won!" Kouta exclaimed happily as he walked over to the two and knelt to the boy's level again.

"Oniichan, thank you!" Kenichi thanked him happily.

"Don't worry about it!" Kouta said as he ruffled his hair a bit and took his leave, he walked over to a moped with an iron box in the back with the same logo on his jacket and put on his helmet.

"Ummm..." Kenichi's mother said, getting his attention, "Were you in a middle of a delivery?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, the curry's still warm." Kouta said with a smile before he got into his moped and drove off to make his delivery.

* * *

**Another shopping district**

We go to another shopping district in Zawame City, and this time there are more pedestrians and shoppers walking by. And there appears to be some stopping by to see a girl around 18 with tanned skin, carrying a bag.

"Naga! Naga, where are you girl?! Naga?!" the tanned girl shouted throughout a crowd people. Everyone around her was looking at her in stunning silence and amazement, she was a foreigner shouting in the middle of a crowd while speaking Japanese so fluently.

She had aqua blue eyes, long dark brown hair tied in three ponytail styles, two down on her shoulders and one tied behind her head. She wore a white cap, with matching sneakers and a jumpsuit, a towel around her neck, and she had a logo on her back saying "Future Industries," assuming that's the name of the company she's working in. Her name is Korra Nozomi **(5)**, she is ¼ Japanese and ¾ Inuit, born from Canada. After she graduated high school, she decided to study/work abroad in Japan with a work permit and a student visa. And judging by the sweat stains on her shirt she had just finished working for the day.

"Where is she?" Korra asked herself, "She can't be that hard to find." and she ran forward hoping to find her friend faster.

* * *

**Town Square**

Next we go to one of the city's town squares to find a big, white, furry creature drinking out of a fountain like a dog, and like with Korra, bystanders are looking at the creature in stunning silence with how beautiful the creature is and disgust that she's drinking water out of the fountain as if she's drinking out of a toilet.

The creature is a big female dog, big as a polar bear and her species is a Great Pyrenees, and she has a saddle on her back. She had large upper arms and paws and slender hind feet, her fur was thick and white as snow, a long tail, an elongated snout with a black nose, and large bear-like teeth in her mouth. Her face is framed by two floppy ears and black eyes, and she has a saddle on her back. Her name is Naga, Korra's best friend and a tracker, she is a polar bear dog, a cross between a dog and a polar bear.

And long ago, there lived hybrid animals that lived in this city before it was built. **(13)**

Naga stopped drinking for a moment to hear a vehicle approaching, and she jerked her head out to see Kouta on his moped making another delivery.

"Yosha! Time for another delivery!" Kouta said with enthusiasm, he took off his helmet, parked his vehicle in front of a lamp shop, and took out a bag from the food carrier with curry on rice in it. From that moment, Naga took a whiff at the smell coming from the bag Kouta's holding, and to the food carrier. And boy did it smell good.

* * *

**A minute later**

Kouta came out with a satisfied smile, "Goal! Another satisfied customer!" he exclaimed before he saw something before his eyes, "Huh?" he asked in confusion and gave a blank stare. It took a moment to realize as his eyes widen in shock, to see a polar bear dog sniffing and slightly scratching the food carrier!

In panic, Kouta ran to the big creature to stop it from eating his delivery orders, "Ah! No! No! No! Bad dog! That's not for you!" he exclaimed as he grabbed her by the neck to pull her away from it, "Stop it! They're for the customers only!" he gritted his teeth pulled with all of his might, but she wouldn't budge.

"Naga, sit!" a female voice ordered and the dog obeyed as she sat down and Kouta fell on his back, "There you are! I've been looking all over for you." he got up and turned to see Korra running towards him and the polar bear dog called Naga.

Korra bowed her head to him, "I'm so sorry." she apologized before turning to Naga with a stern look, "You are _so _not getting a treat when we get home young lady." the tanned girl scolded making the dog lower her head and whine in shame.

Seeing her apologize and scolding her dog, Kouta waved his hand in a dismissive way, "Ah, don't worry about it, it's not your fault nor hers, and besides..." he walked back to his food carrier and patted it, "It's still in one piece." he walked back to her and held out his hand, "Kazuraba Kouta."

Korra took the friendly gesture and shook it, "Nozomi Korra. It's nice to meet you Kouta."

"Likewise." Kouta said before he turned to the big dog, "So, Naga's your name, huh?"

**WOOF! **Naga barked once, and Kouta took it as a yes.

Kouta smiled and patted the dog's head, "Nice to meet you Naga. Hey, you're hungry right?"

**WOOF! **The polar bear dog barked once more and Kouta opened the seat of his motorcycle to pull out a large rice ball wrapped in plastic.

"Well, I ate one. And I was going to save this one for later, but here." Kouta said as he offered one half to Naga and she sniffed it, "Neechan's a great cook and made this. Although, I'm not sure if it will suit your taste buds-"

**CHOMP! **Without warning, the polar bear dog snatched it in one bite.

Kouta and Korra blinked in surprise by her scarfing down the rice ball so suddenly as she chewed her food and swallowed gleefully. She panted happily and licked Kouta's cheek gratefully.

The two chuckled at the polar bear dog's affection, happy for her liking the young man sister's cooking, "Well, at least you've got good taste." he said happily as he patted her head.

Korra chuckled in good nature, "Yeah, she does." she said before she looked at his face and her eyes widen in recognition, "Hey, I remember you. You're that delivery boy from Punjabi."

Kouta looked at her in confusion before his eyes too widen in recognition, "And you're that foreign girl who works at the Future Industries factory." he said as he pointed at her, and they both remembered their first meeting.

* * *

_**Flashback at Future Industries Car Factory**_

_We go to a car factory where workers wearing uniforms and hard helmets are making cars._

"_Hello, delivery from Punjabi!" Kouta shouted as he walked in through the door, carrying two bags of curry._

"_Oh, thank you." said a man in his fifties, he has spiky gray hair with a beard and mustache combo and he wore a suit. His name is Gommu **(6)**, the manager of the car factory and a nice man. He paid Kouta a couple of yen bills and took the bags from him.**  
**_

"_Thank you very much." Kouta thanked with a bow and Gommu returned the gesture with the former walked out._

_The manager walked out after Kouta left and shouted to his employees, "Hey guys! Time for a lunch break!" getting their attention, they all just dropped at what they're doing walked upstairs to take their break._

"_Yosha!" one employee shouted who stopped adding car doors to the car._

"_Lucky!" another shouted as he wiped the sweat off his face with a towel around his neck._

"_I love Punjabi's curry!" one exclaimed with excitement before he spotted a certain tanned girl not joining them, who was placing tires on one of the cars, "Hey Korra! It's time to eat!"_

"_In a minute! I'm just about done here!" Korra shouted while wearing a safety helmet and putting the tire plate on the wheel, "And... perfect." she had worked at the car factory for over a year, and it was hard to work there at first, but she got the hang of it in due time._

_She got up and walked to join the others, until Kouta accidentally bumped into her and she fell on her bottom._

"_Oh... Excuse me!" Kouta apologized and held his hand out to help her, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to..." he paused when he looked at Korra's face._

"_No, it's my fault," Korra said as she took his hand before she gazed at his eyes, "I wasn't... looking..." she paused as well while staring into his face._

_They both stared at each others' faces in silent before smiles formed slowly on their faces, like there's a special connection between the two and they're happy to see each other._

_The moment was ruined when Kouta's watch was beeping and he glanced at it, "Ah! I'm sorry, but I have to get going. Bye!" he ran off to head out to the door but was stopped by the girl's voice._

"_Wait!" Korra shouted, stopping him in his tracks and he looked at her, "Could I at least...?" she hesitated to say anything else before..._

"_Hey! Aren't you done yet?!" the co-worker from before shouted with his comrades._

"_Coming!" Korra shouted and turned back to Kouta, "I should get back to work."_

"_Yeah, me too." the young man said and the two turned away and ran off in opposite directions._

_**Flashback end**_

* * *

The two stood there awkwardly with Korra grinding her foot into the ground and Kouta rubbed the back of his neck to see that their first meeting didn't end well. And for some reason, they didn't have that same happy feeling again right now for the second time. Like the spark between the two faded, even though they never dated.

"The curry from Panjubi was delicious by the way." Korra complimented, breaking the silence.

Kouta gave a grateful smile, "Thanks." he thanked and he held out the other half of his rice ball to her, "Here."

Korra blinked as she was taken aback by the sudden generosity, "For me?" she asked as she pointed at herself.

Kouta nodded, "Yeah, like I said, Neechan's a great cook. Think of it as an apology from bumping into you from before."

Korra crossed her arms and shrugged her shoulders, "Don't worry about it, it was an accident. And besides, you look like you need it more than me."

"Actually, I was going to head over to Druper's for a break, and the owner would scold me for bringing outside food into his cafe."

"Well..." Korra said with some thought and shrugged again, "Okay, but only because you insist." she held out her hand. But before he could hand it over to her, Naga picked up the half with her mouth and scarfed it down.

Kouta and Korra stared blankly at Naga for a second before he screamed, "Aah! My rice ball!" he grabbed the dog by the face and angrily shook her head, "Spit it out! Spit it out now! I only gave you half, and this is how you repay me?! Neechan spent all morning making those!"

Korra grabbed Kouta by his back to make him let go, "Kouta, stop! She didn't mean-"

**SLURP! **Naga's only response was a lick to his face, with his mouth opened!

Korra and a couple of bystanders looked at Kouta in shock and disgust to see him licked by the polar bear dog. Some even took pictures with their camera phones to commemorate this moment and send it to others. He froze like a statue with a face of disgust as dog slobber was dripping out of his mouth and his hair styled into a cowlick.

"Ah~! I'm so sorry!" Korra cried out as she brought out a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe the drool off his face.

Kouta wiped the slobber off his face and hair, and he coughed and spat out some saliva to the ground, hopefully it's Naga's and not his. After a couple of seconds of coughing and spitting, he turned back to her, and allowed her to wipe it off.

* * *

**Project Zawame City**

"_Hello~ Zawame City!"_ a voice boomed out in the city, which was your average city except for one giant building that resembles a tree, in which it's called Yggdrasil Corporation. And in a radio station, there was a man in his forties wearing a polka dot shirt with logos on his pants, sneakers, wristbands, and a watch. He wore a pair of yellow goggles and a red headband on his head, and headphones around his neck. He is DJ Sagara, a radio DJ who hosts a popular TV show that's also a webcast called "Beatriders Hotline" and is an employee at Yggdrasil Corporation.

"_DJ Sagara here, coming to you live! Whassup!"_

Back to the city, there was a stage with a dance team dancing to their routine with hip-hop music playing in the background. An audience appeared before them, cheering them on while they were dancing. They are known as the Beat Rider team; Gaim. The team consists of four girls and three guys, and their clothing is of hip hop clothing, composed in variety of colors, but mostly white and navy blue.

The team was giving their all as the crowd cheer for them.

"_The Beat Riders are __bringing down the house__!" _DJ Sagara said excitedly,_ "Once again, we've got __blue skies__ and __sunshine__ upon Yggdrasil Tower!"_ True to his word, the next scene shows the reputation of Yggdrasil with a business man sitting down while going through online shopping on his iPad on the website of Yggdrasil Corporation. Next we go to a clothing store where a man made his purchase with one of Yggdrasil credit cards. _"First, __let's__ fill __up__ Zawame City with some __hot beats!__ Get in the groove!" _Sagara spoke through the speakers as a school bus with Yggdrasil's logo on it, a hospital, and a garbage truck.

Back with Gaim, their crowd was cheering loudly just when they're about to bring out the finale of their dance. But then the music stopped, and the dance team and the crowd looked confused.

"Huh? What?" a Gaim fan asked in confusion. Everyone looked to see who was over at the speakers, a group of guys wearing black and red jackets with matching uniforms. One of them held a card which seems to connect with the speakers. He's tall and has messy black hair. His name is Zack, first member to join and second-in-command of Team Baron.

"What's your problem?!" a Gaim fan asked one of the Baron members.

"Hey! What'd you do that for?!" a female Gaim member demanded angrily, annoyed that Baron had interrupted their dance show. She had long dark brown hair, a black cap with the word "GAIM" on it, a white shirt with a pink stripe across diagonally, a blue hoodie wrapped around her waist, gray and sweatpants with sakura petals in the front. Her name is Mai Takatsukasa, she is the hot-headed member of Team Gaim and one of Kouta's childhood friends.

"Those Baron jerks are back again?" a male member asked, not too happy to see them either. He had short black hair, a blue hoodie with white long sleeves and a black and white zigzag front pocket, and magenta pants. His name is Mitsuzane Kureshima, but everyone calls him "Micchy" for short.

"This is Baron's stage now." Zack said, and everyone shouted in complaints.

"Are you kidding me?!" one guy asked from the audience.

"Get off the stage!" another exclaimed.

"We want to see Gaim dance!" a girl shouted.

"_Looks like the street's too small for the both of you!" _DJ Sagara said through the speakers, _"Don't let them get to you for over a stunt like that!"_

"I'll take that, thank you!" Mai snapped as she snatched the card away from the Baron Member's hand.

* * *

**With DJ Sagara**

"_Find a solution to solve any of your problems with these babies!" _Sagara said to the mike, he grabbed two locks in his hands and showing it to the screen. One had a picture of an orange on it with the code 'LS-07' marked on it and the other had a banana with the code 'LS-08.' "Lockseeds!"

* * *

**Back with Gaim and Baron**

"Shall we duel?" Zack challenged tauntingly as he brought out a Lockseed with a pincone on it with the imprint 'LS-01' on it.

"Gladly, I accept!" Mai accepted as she brought out a Lockseed with a sunflower seed on it with the imprint 'LS-00.'

But Micchy thought otherwise as he placed his hand on her shoulder, "Mai-san, we should call Yuuya-san first." he advised.

Mai's response was shrugging his hand off her shoulder, "There's no time! I can handle this!"

"_These babies can summon the creatures called Inves! And you can battle with style yo!" _DJ Sagara explained through his announcement.

Mai and Zack opened their locks and a large yellow arena appeared before the two and above the two opponents are zippers. They both zipped down to bring out two small gray creatures in the size of dolls appeared on the arena with some color features to them. On Mai's side its color is blue of course, and Baron's is red obviously.

"_The winner among winners will receive props from their battle! OK! Let's get the Beat on all you Rider! OW!"_

"**Battle Start!"**

The fight between the two small Inves has started and the two rival teams were cheering for their own Inves to win. The two Inves pushed each other like sumos at first, but then began to punch and kick each other as the crowd join in on the cheering, excited to see who will win.

But among them behind the crowds was a Baron member with light brunette hair. His name is Peco, the third member to join the team. And he appeared to be holding something as he held up a slingshot for the second-in-command to see.

Zack, with a sly smile, still holding onto his Lockseed, gave a nod of confirmation to his teammate. And so Peco readied his weapon with a small metal disk as ammunition and aimed at Mai's hand.

"Aim for the face!" Mai commanded to her Inves, failing to notice Peco already taking his shot and hit her hand.

**SMACK! **"AH!" Mai yelped after she felt something swat her hand and dropped her Lockseed. She looked down to her Lockseed on the floor, "Huh? What just-?" But she looked back at the arena to see the team's Inves broke off from its battle and coming towards its former captive and broke through the barrier of the arena.

From there it grew to toddler size and started attacking everyone who was in its way, and a female member of Gaim screamed at the sight and ran away. She unintentionally kicked the Lockseed off the stage and the audience panicked.

"How stupid! You do know that you shouldn't throw away your Lockseed during a match, right?" Zack taunted, receiving a glare from the girl and she looked back to where her Lockseed has been sent flying to.

It was then Kouta drove by and stopped to look at the panic among the audience and his former team. Mai jumped off the stage to retrieve her Lockseed, but the Inves appeared before her and was about to attack her. **SMACK! **But Kouta rammed into it with his bike and got off to grab the now broken Lockseed thanks to the bystanders who ran over it. Kouta unlocked the Lockseed and the zipper appeared before the Inves, and it jumped in, sending it home just as the zipper closed up. He looked down to see her broken Lockseed.

"Kouta..." Mai said, seeing her friend walking slowly towards her.

From there, Kouta smiled, "Are you okay Mai?" he asked and held out his hand. But in anger, she swatted it away, stood up, and looked away in a huff. Kouta sighed, knowing why she's acting like this.

"Kouta-san!" one of Gaim members exclaimed as he and the others ran up to him.

Kouta's mood changed to happy as he saw his old teammates,"Hey, you guys okay?"

"We're fine!" one responded and the rest followed.

"Your Inves left the battlefield." Zack pointed out in a smug tone getting their attention, "Which makes us the winners, and you're disqualified." he sent his Inves back home with the lock of his Lockseed.

"**You win!"**

Team Gaim had their shoulder slumped in disappointment at the loss before someone approached them.

"What is going on here?" a voice asked and the group turned to see a woman in her fifties with two policemen beside her. She had wavy gray hair stopping at the base of her neck, a pale complexion with two slash scars on the right side of her cheek and green eyes. She wore a black police uniform while the officers wore blue. Her name is Lin Takatsukasa **(7)**, Chief of Zawame City's police force, and Mai's mother.**  
**

"Chief Takatsukasa..." Team Gaim minus Kouta and Mai muttered in fear and worry as they saw her, she was one strict police officer in the past and they fear her even more when she became Chief of Police.

"Kazuraba-kun, there had better be an explanation for this." Chief Takatsukasa said in a hard tone, making Kouta sweat nervously by her interrogation. Despite knowing and approving of him being her daughter's good friend, she sometimes interrogates him to see if he has done something wrong. And he didn't. But that doesn't mean she won't stop trying and do the same to all the Beat Rider teams out there, a bunch of adolescents messing around and not paying attention in school.

"Actually, there is Chief." Mai spoke up, getting her mother's attention. She would call her mother 'Chief,' all because she didn't want her friends to poke fun at her for being a mama's girl.

The chief of police stared at her daughter for a moment and her hard attitude disappeared like magic as her face softened with a smile, "Very well, please do explain Mai-chan." she said in a calm matter and a kind tone.

The team laughed while Kouta and Micchy tried to stop the team from teasing her, and Mai blushed in embarrassment. They half expected flowers to bloom around the woman's face whenever she dotes around her daughter.

"Mom, not in front of my friends." Mai whined. She knows that her mother means well, and is really happy to know that she's always supporting her decision to dance with her teammates. But she didn't have to embarrass her in front of them.

Kouta simply shook his head in good nature, not surprised to see the woman's mood change whenever she's around her daughter. He knows that she's very overprotective of her her and wouldn't hesitate to intimidate him or anyone who were associated with her.

Chief Takatsukasa turned to her officers, "You may leave now. I'll handle this." the two officers saluted and do what they're told, she turned to the group, "Start explaining." and the game of question and answers has begun.

* * *

**A brief explanation later**

"I see, well I'm glad no one was hurt. Especially you Mai-chan." she said as she patted her daughter's head, happy to see her safe. Mai was still blushing as she took her cap off to hide her face in embarrassment.

Everyone minus Kouta and Micchy were poking fun at her and two of the latter's reasoning to stop them was in vain. But the teasing stopped when the chief's face grew serious, "But the next time either you, Baron, or any other of the Beat Rider teams pull any other stunt like this and bring my daughter into it." she pulled out a pair of handcuffs, "I won't hesitate to put you behind bars. Is that understood?"

"Yes Ma'am." everyone replied quickly, including Kouta who did it out of instinct. Mai still blushed in embarrassment by her mother's protectiveness. Just go back to work already.

"Kazuraba-kun." Chief Takatsukasa said getting his attention and gave a grateful look to the young man, "Thank you for saving my daughter."

"You're welcome Chief." Kouta replied with a polite smile, happy to see the woman's mood changed and grateful for saving her daughter.

Lin then walked over to lean into his ear and whisper, "I noticed Mai has been distant from you ever since you quit the team, and I understand it. But I'm sure she'll forgive you if you talk to her." after learning about Kouta quitting the team and started working part-time jobs, her daughter would give him the cold shoulder and wouldn't talk to him. And she would be saddened to see her break off their friendship for over something like that.

She pulled her head back and looked at her watch, "Well, I better get back to the station. There's a ton of paperwork to do." Chief Takatsukasa said as she turned to Mai and gave her a soft smile, "I'll see you at home, Mai-chan."

"Just make sure you don't overwork and come home on time." Mai responded with a smile of her own.

Her mother knows that even though she can embarrass her daughter from time to time, she could tell that she meant every word she says.

As she walked away she raised an arm and waved, "Kazuraba-kun, tell your sister we should have tea again!"

"I will!" Kouta said happily as he waved at her. And as soon as she's gone, Kouta looked at Mai whose smile faded and turned into a scowl as she looked him before running off with her cap flying off of her head, "Mai wait!" he pursued chase after her and picked up her hat.

* * *

**Later**

A little while later, Mai and Kouta were walking on the sidewalk with the latter still pursuing her.

"Mai!" Kouta shouted as he abandoned his bike and caught up with her to hand her back her cap, "Hey! You forgot your hat!"

"Oh shut up! Just leave me alone!" Mai snapped as she took her cap back from him, "You're the one who called Beat Riders child's play!" she calmed down a bit before continuing, "You're supposed to be an adult aren't you Kouta?" her anger rose again, "Then butt out of our business! And I bet Mom told you to come talk to me, didn't she?"

Kouta was silent until he admitted, "Well, yeah." she walked off in a huff, and Kouta still went after her, "But even if she didn't, I still would have talked to you anyway!" and they both stopped to see the team leader of Gaim.

"Mai, are you okay?" he asked in concern. He had platinum blonde hair and the same jacket as his teammates. His name is Yuuya Sumii, the team leader of Gaim and a good friend of Kouta.

"I'm sorry Yuuya!" Mai apologized as she walked up to him, "You went to the trouble of getting me a Lockseed, and I blew it." she lowered her head in shame, "And Baron... took the stage."

But Yuuya didn't care about that, "Didn't I tell you to wait for me if there's trouble?"

"But you're busy too Yuuya. we can't rely on you every time when there's trouble." she protested.

Yuuya sighed, "Listen..."

"I really am sorry!" Mai apologized again with a bow and ran off.

As Yuuya saw her ran off, he turned to Kouta who gave a wave, "Yo! Long time no see." he greeted, "You saved the day didn't you, Kouta?"

* * *

**Random Cafe**

We go to a cafe where a couple sitting at a table was watching the Beat Riders Hotline broadcast on their laptop along with a waitress serving their coffee. And needless to say, they were excited at what they're watching.

"_Oh man!" _DJ Sagara exclaimed in a small screen and showing the battle clip of Gaim and Baron from earlier on the big one, _"It seems that Team Gaim couldn't get a grip! Literally! Therefore they forfeit the game yo!" _he finished with a cross of his hands in an X formation.

* * *

**Bus stop**

At a bus stop, a man was watching the broadcast had a screen pop up that says who is cooler, Team Gaim or Baron. And many people did the same throughout the city.

"_Baron is just raking in the votes!" _DJ Sagara said through his announcement,_ "And Gaim is losing by a landslide! They'd better make a great comeback, or they fall!" _he finished with two thumbs down.

* * *

**Team Baron's headquarters**

Team Baron's headquarters is a huge room in a building with a large TV, tables with chairs, a soda machine, a refrigerator, a kitchen, and the works. The members were watching the Beat Riders Hotline on television and they were happy to see that the Beat Riders ranking list showed Team Gaim, who were in 5th place, dropped down to 9th as Baron is in 1st. And from top to bottom there are other Beat Rider teams in the ranking list, such as Team Souten, the Samurai themed Beat Rider team. Team Red Hot, the red devil team, who are solely focusing on Inves battles and less dancing. Team Raid Wild, the predatory and hostile team. Team Invitto, the intellectual and sophisticated themed dancing team, who replaced Gaim in the rankings. Team Pop Up, the high class and majestic white suited All-Girl team. Team Mulan, the second All-Girl team who were inspired by Team Pop Up, and uses acrobats and martial arts for their dance routines. Team Wolfbats **(8)**, the underhanded team who almost made first in the rank, until they lost miserably by Baron and Mulan. And then there's Team Fire Ferrets **(9)**, the uprising rookie team that formed last year and made the top ten in 6 months.

"Yeah, we did it!" one of Team Baron members cheered.

"Was there ever any doubt?" another member asked.

"As easy as pie." Zack said smugly as he spun his Lockseed.

"Kaito-san! We sure showed them a thing or two huh?" Peco asked as he saw his leader walking down the stairs.

"Let's not celebrate just yet." the leader called Kaito said, "The weak will get crushed, and the strong will prevail." he has brunette hair and wore the same uniform as his team. His name is Kaito Kuman, team leader of Team Baron, "That's the law of nature." he finished as he sat down in his chair.

The members just stared at Kaito before Peco broke the silence, "Exactly!" he agreed, and they all cheered once more.

* * *

**Team Gaim's headquarters**

Team Gaim's headquarters is a garage, but on the inside it looks like a club for the cool kids with a car, a swing, a popcorn machine, a refrigerator, etc. And the team members were moping around, still sore after their loss against Baron.

"Those Baron jerks ruined everything..." a light-browned hair teen sulked while sitting in the car. His name is Rat, the team's mood maker.

"If only Kouta-san was there..." Micchy said with a sigh.

Mai looked at him in disbelief, "Micchy, are you still going on about that?!" she scolded.

"But it was Kouta-san who saved our hides after all!" the girl called Rica argued as she stood up, and next to her is Chucky, the team's female top-level dancer.

"Man, why did he have to bail out on us when we need him?" Rat complained again and the team looked down in silence to mop again.

* * *

**Drupers**

At a fruit parlor called 'Drupers,' where it's famous for their fresh fruits and parfaits, a large centerpiece with various fruits on one table, and it's where one of the places where Beat Riders hang out and watch any news about the other Beat Rider Teams, to check out the competition. And the man running the place is named Bando Kiyojiro, the manager. He is a man in his early thirties, has messy brown hair, wears a Hawaiian shirt, and a yellow apron.

"Welcome to Drupers! Right this way please." a waitress greeted as she leads two customers to their table.

"_Send your comments or videos to the Beat Riders hotline." _DJ Sagara said through the television as Kouta and Yuuya were watching, _"Anything! Anytime! We'll take it! If you happen to record footage of a battle in the city..." _he kept going on before Yuuya spoke.

"Things have changed ever since you left the team." Yuuya said without looking at him.

"Everyone's really getting into the Inves Game nowadays." Bando said as he served two parfaits to them.

Kouta looked behind to see a private room where a man in his early thirties, who wore a black suit and a bowler hat. He is Lock Dealer Sid, but some people call him Sid for short, and he's one of the people who can hook anyone up with Lockseeds through sale.

"How about this?" Sid asked, showing a Sunflower Lockseed on his iPad to the teenager and he nodded.

"I'll take it!" the teenager replied.

Sid gave a smirk as he reached into the drawer of his suitcase to pull out a Sunflower Lockseed and gave it to his customer and got paid for it.

"Lately there are a number of Lock Dealers in the city." Yuuya said looking into Kouta's direction before turning to his parfait, "And a team's rankings might as well depend on how many Lockseeds they've stocked up." and the teenager left.

"Well I don't like it." Kouta said as he looked took a spoonful of his parfait into his mouth.

"Really?" Bando asked before looking to Sid, "Well I'm just glad that no one will get hurt if you settle things with a game instead of violence. Kinda cute if you ask me." and he went back to work.

"Well it's dangerous to me!" Kouta argued before he gave a thought, "Just what exactly are those Inves? Who's making those locks and why are they trying to sell them?"

It was then an Yggdrasil commercial played in the television and the three watched it. And as the commercial ended, a customer came in with the door chime rang.

"Kou-chan! Yuuya!" a female voice called, making Kouta groaned in embarrassment at the nickname.

Yuuya turned around with a happy look on his face to see a beautiful young girl around 18 entered. She has long wavy raven black hair, green eyes and wore a red/black jacket, dark red skirt, black leggings and boots. Her name is Asami Sato, team leader of Team Mulan, another Beat Rider group, consisted of girls who were inspired by Team Pop Up. She is also the daughter of a wealthy company, and a childhood friend of Kouta and Mai.

"Asami!" Yuuya greeted happily as he gave her a high-five and a fist-bump and gave a one armed hug with her returning the gesture, "It's so good to see you."

"Good to see you too Yuuya." Asami greeted back and broke the hug. She turned to an annoyed Kouta with a Cheshire Cat grin, "Aren't you even gonna say hello, Kou-chan?" she asked teasingly.

"Asami, just call me Kouta." Kouta chastised with a glare. He hated it when she calls him his nickname, it was fun when they were kids, until he grew up and finds it irritating. She's like an annoying little sister to him.

"Hmm~ Why?" Asami whined teasingly, "We gave each other nicknames when we were kids. And you even called me Asa-chan back then." she pouted her lips, gave him the puppy dog eyes, and even batted her eyes to try and break him.

"Exactly, we're not kids anymore." Kouta said, annoyed by her antics.

Seeing that planned failed, Asami decided to put her charms to work as she wrapped one arm around his neck and pulled him into a hug, "Come on, just call me Asa-chan, for... old... time... sakes." she said sweetly as she tapped his nose at the last part of her words.

Kouta looked at her dryly to see her trying to sweet talk him, "No." he said, clearly unphased by her charms.

Asami childishly pouted seeing that her plan failed, "Hmph, you used to be fun back then." she huffed in mock anger before she broke off the hug and turned to Bando, "Bando-san, the usual please!"

"Sure, sure." Bando replied casually as he served another customer with a peach parfait, "Six parfaits on the go."

Asami turned back to Yuuya and asked, "So how's Mai-chan doing by the way?" like with Kouta, she and Mai got along really well like sisters, and they always listen to each other's problems.

"She's doing okay, on the outside at least." Yuuya said sadly, he looked at Kouta, "She's still pretty steamed about you taking your leave." and Kouta nodded sadly.

"I saw the match between her and Zack today." Asami said as her face became bitter and slammed her fist into her palm, "I'd like to show those Baron Bastards a thing or two." but she knew that she wouldn't resort to violence at that, and Mai would be saddened and disappointed if she does.

Yuuya sighed, "If only I was there." he said with guilt.

Asami placed her hand on his shoulder in comfort, "Hey, don't look so down. What happens, happens, and you gotta move on. There will be other Inves Games, and just get there sooner next time, okay?" she then turned to Kouta, "And as for you, you leaving the team was _your_ choice, and I understand why you did it. Mai will too, she maybe angry at you, but she would never hate you. Believe me, if I had responsibilities outside the team, then I will do whatever I can to fulfill them."

Yuuya knew that she was right, and so does Kouta. Of all the teams that Team Gaim compete against, Team Mulan was okay in their book. In fact, they got along just fine and sometimes they even dance with each other on stage.

Seeing Yuuya still down, Kouta decided to change topics, "So anyway, how's your all-girl team doing?"

Asami perked up when he mentioned that, "It's going great actually." she said with a smile before it faded into a frown, "Is what I would say, but lately Team Wolfbats have been trying to make an..." she raised up her fingers to air quote, 'Alliance' with us ever since they lost to us. Naturally we refused them at first, but they've been pretty persistent and wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. And personally, I think they're trying to hawk in on our territory." she reached into her pocket to pull out her wallet to pay Bando, which he gladly accepted and handed her a bag with a carton cup holder with parfaits in plastic cups and spoons.

Yuuya shrugged and ate a spoonful of his parfait,"Well, then I guess you'll just have to teach them the hard way again." he's not so surprised about Wolfbats or any other Beat Rider teams who are trying to aim for the top, who wouldn't? It's like some sort of battlefield and the Inves are the Beat Riders soldiers. And since Gaim is now ranked 9th in the top 10, they are most likely an open target of any other teams who haven't made the list.

"So how's your journey to adulthood have been working out with you lately?" Asami asked Kouta.

"It's going fine, I guess." Kouta replied with a smile, at least she and Yuuya are supportive of his decision, and like Asami said, Mai will understand and respect it as well.

"So, did you help another boy look for his mommy?" Asami asked with a smile, she always liked that side of Kouta. He's like an older brother to her, always kind, selfless, and helpful to people even when he's on the job.

"Yeah, I did." Kouta replied and his mood became happy, "But I also met this girl today who has a pet polar bear dog."

"Ooh, I never knew you had a thing for girls with pets." Asami said slyly with a giggle making Kouta frown at her teasing, "But please do tell us the details, Prince_ Charming._" she was always a tease when it comes to Kouta or anyone's love life, like an annoying little sister. But sometimes there's a time when there's a limit, unless she hears the details.

Kouta rolled his eyes, "Well... It happened like this." he said, he knew that she wouldn't stop pestering him if he didn't tell her, and she can be very persistent and _annoying_ if he doesn't. And so he started from when he delivered curry to a store up to meeting Korra and Naga, and having the latter lick his face.

"Wow, I take it back, I think you're better off with the polar bear dog instead." Asami said with a laugh, and Yuuya and Bando put their hands on their mouths to hold back their laughter at what happened.

Kouta looked annoyed at the three of them, "Gee, thanks." he said sarcastically, before he got up and walked to the door, "Well, I gotta get home."

"Aww, leaving so soon?" Asami asked in her usual teasing tone, "Are you gonna ask that lovely 'lady' out on a date, or her owner?" she referred to Naga with a giggle, and Yuuya and Bando couldn't hold it in as they both laughed hysterically making Kouta glare at them with a blush in anger and embarrassment that would put Mai's to shame, "I'm kidding, don't be so serious all the time." she gave a wave to Kouta who is still pretty ticked, "I'll see you later. Oh, and give Akira-neechan my thanks for giving me the buckwheat noodle soup recipe. It was delicious!"

Still stewing in anger, Kouta took a deep breath to calm down and replied, "I will!" and he walked out with a slam to the door.

The three laughed out loud along with the customers who overheard his story as they held their laughter from before, not wanting him to get angry at them too.

"He left without paying again, didn't he?" Asami asked with her laughter dying down along with everyone else.

"Yep." Yuuya replied as he calmed down and reached into his pocket to bring out his wallet, "This is the least I can do for him since he saved everyone." he placed a couple of yen on the table and got up, "We should let our teams hang out again sometimes."

"Sure, and we can share our stage with you, since Baron took yours." Asami said as she held out her hand to him.

Yuuya smiled and shook her hand, "It's a deal." and with that they both left the parlor with Bando telling them to come back anytime.

Neither of them notice that a pair of eyes, belonging to Sid, watching the two with interest as a sly smile formed on his face.

* * *

**Kazuraba's residence**

"I'm home." Kouta said as he walked in to see a woman with hazelnut hair in a ponytail, a white blouse, and a gray skirt. Her name is Akira Kazuraba, Kouta's older sister, and she's an employee at Yggdrasil corporation.

"Welcome back." she greeted while peeling carrots for dinner. She got back from grocery shopping after work with the vegetables on the counter. She then noticed something wrong with her brother as he walked and placed his arms on the table, and rested his head on them, "What's wrong? Did you made a mistake at work?"

"Hey Neechan..." Kouta groaned out as he lifted his head up, "What does it mean to be an adult?"

Akira simply smiled at the question and answered, "To take care of one's responsibilities and problems." she stopped peeling for a moment, "Right now you're paying for food and rent, Kouta. You _are _an adult after all."

Kouta then got up from the table to pick up vegetables that her sister bought and said,"But I'm only taking care of my _own _responsibilities and problems. I've got my hands full at work." he went to the refrigerator to store them and closed the door, "And I've made sacrifices that are important to me too." he then leaned on the counter, "Even so, I'm still the same person as I once was before."

"Kouta!" Akira reprimanded her brother for his attitude.

"I... Want to transform!" Kouta said with determination, "I want to become stronger, to become someone who can do anything!"

Akira smiled and chuckled at his revelation, "Trying to become something beyond yourself are you?" she asked as she crossed her arms, "You sure have a naive view on reality!" she punched her brother's stomach playfully making him recoil in pain, "Just don't rush it. You'll become an adult sooner or later, if you just be patient." she handed him her unfinished carrot, "Go on, peel it." and they began peeling the rest.

* * *

**Korra's apartment**

Meanwhile at an apartment where Korra's living, we find our character in normal clothing and hair hung loose, lying on the couch, watching the Beat Riders hotline on her TV, and her best friend Naga was lying her back on the floor. She was pretty interested in the Beat Riders dancing, and was hooked into it after seeing Team Gaim for their dancing skills and became their fan. But became bummed out today when Baron challenged Gaim at the Inves Games and took their stage, much to her disappointment, but she still voted for Gaim nonetheless. And so the former had a bored expression on her face as she turned off her television and looked up at the ceiling.

"Oh Naga..." Korra groaned and got up to stretch her arms and legs, "I'm in a rut. I mean, I'm glad I got through high school, and got a decent job and education in Japan. But more importantly..." she smiled, I've got my freedom." she rested her arms behind her head before she fell back on the couch again and her smile faded, "But even with all that, it's still not enough. I feel like I want more, like I need a _real _purpose in life. And I don't want people telling me what to do in my life, you know." she turned to her polar bear dog, "Hey, we've known each other since we were little right? So what do you think I should do?"

Naga's only answer was snoring peacefully on the floor, and Korra sighed, "That's your answer for everything." she closed her eyes and whispered, "Just sleep on it." and she took a nap.

* * *

**Punjabi's restaurant**

The next day, we find Kouta outside of Punjabi's restaurant as he loaded his orders into the metal box, put on his helmet and drove off.

_'Neechan took care of me ever since our parents past away.' _Kouta's voice narrated.

* * *

**Construction site**

Time flew by as the scene shifts to a construction site where Kouta was working. He wore a constructor worker's uniform while carrying a metal plate, '_But I don't want to feel like a burden to her any longer. I want to be an adult as soon as possible.__' _he stopped to wipe the sweat off his forehead.

He went up a ladder while carrying a couple of paint cans_, __'__But even so...__' _he stopped again to wipe off the sweat again with his towel.

* * *

**At a Shoe Store**

Time passes by again as Kouta worked for Punjabi and walked into a shoe store to deliver curry to the manager and his employees, "Sorry for the wait! Here you go."

* * *

**Yggdrasil University**

Meanwhile, Korra, who was at a lecture in a university, wore a light-blue sleeveless t-shirt, blue armbands and jeans, and brown boots, taking down notes as she listened to her professor. She takes classes in mornings and work in afternoons, because it helps improve her grades.

_'When I was young, I felt like I've had my whole life controlled thanks to the people who took care of me, including my parents. Like I'm some sort of pet, or a prisoner for that matter.' _Korra's voice narrated.

* * *

**Future Industries car factory**

Korra, in her uniform, installed one of the tires onto the cars and finished with a tire plate.

_'But after going through all of that, I've finally earned my freedom and started living alone, except with Naga. With no one telling me what I should or shouldn't do, I'm free to do anything on my own.'_

* * *

**After work**

It was mid-afternoon and Korra finished working for the day.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow!" Korra waved to her co-workers and they waved back. She rode on Naga's back, who waited for her outside after her work was done and the two went head back to their apartment.

_'But even so...'_

* * *

**Gaim's headquarters**

The members of Team Gaim are practicing dancing in their garage considering their stage was taken by Baron. It was only a matter of time until they fight back to get their stage back.

Mai, on the other hand, with a bored expression, walked outside on the stairs to look up in the sky, as well as Kouta and Korra, with all of them hoping that something would happen, sooner or later.

* * *

**Drupers**

At the parlor, a waitress handed her notepad to Bando, "I'm taking a break."

"Again?" Bando asked skeptically as he saw her went in the back. And Yuuya and Asami walked past him to go to the private room where Sid is. They caught his attention after he drank his tea and they approached him.

"You wanted to talk to us?" Yuuya asked.

"You said you have something to show us." Asami stated.

Sid placed his tea down on the table, "I do." he replied and turned to Yuuya, "Your team is in quite a pinch." he turned to Asami, "And I hear that Team Wolfbats are eyeing your territory. Am I right?" the two leaders glanced at each other and nodded, "Then I have a couple of aces in the hole that will turn things around."

"Is it new Locks?" Yuuya asked as he and Asami sat down in front of him.

"No, just these two." Sid answered as he brought out two belt buckle devices on the table with knives on the side. They are the Sengoku Drivers.

Yuuya looked at Sid skeptically while Asami eyed the belt buckle device.

* * *

**Punjabi's Restaurant**

Kouta walked out of the restaurant as his shift was over before he received a text from Yuuya.

"Yuuya?" Kouta asked as he read the text, "I've got something interesting I wanted show you. Come check it out." he scrolled down to see the Sengoku Driver, "What is that?" he read the address to where he would be and to meet him at.

* * *

**Abandoned warehouses**

Mai walked around, apparently meeting with someone, and turned to see Kouta coming to her.

"Yo." Kouta greeted with a wave.

"Why are you here, Kouta?" Mai asked in confusion, he was the last person she would expect to see around the edge of town.

"Well, Yuuya told me to come." he answered as he walked past her and the two looked for Yuuya. They both walked until they stopped to see what's before them. A bunch of strange-colored plants on the ground and a zipper portal on one of the warehouses walls catching Kouta's attention. And what's really strange about the portal is that looked exactly like one of those portals where the Inves jumped in and out of after being summoned with Lockseeds.

"What kind of plant is this?" Mai asked as she observed one of the strange plants.

"Mai." Kouta said getting her attention and she walked to him to see the portal, "Where do you think this leads to?" he walked in to see where it goes.

"Wait!" Mai protested, but joined in with him anyway.

They've both entered a strange forest, that is filled with trees and vines, with purple fruits growing out them.

"Where do you think we are?" Mai asked him.

"I don't know." Kouta replied.

Mai then saw something with panic as she pulled Kouta with her behind a tree, "What?!" he asked.

Mai shushed him, "Shh, look." she pointed to where she's seeing. Kouta looked into her direction and couldn't believe his eyes.

* * *

**With Korra and Naga**

Korra, on Naga's back galloped through a forest with the former rocking back and forth on the latter's back. She always take this shortcut back home, because she hated going through the streets and the sidewalks, where a lot of people are.

"Slow down Naga! Our dinner back home isn't going anywhere!" Korra exclaimed, and as if she heard her orders, Naga stopped with a skid and the young woman fell forward. The polar bear dog sniffed at something on the ground curiously which raised Korra's curiosity.

Korra got up and was confused to wonder why her polar bear dog stopped all of a sudden, "Naga? What's wrong girl? Why'd you stop?" she asked her loyal companion before she saw the object that she was sniffing at, which confused her. It was a strange plant that Kouta and Mai saw earlier, "What is that?" she hopped off her dog's back to check it out before she saw something at the corner of her eye on a large tree and looked at it, 'And what is _that?' _she thought, it was another Inves portal that leads to the strange forest. So without hesitation, she took a step in and wanted to explore the forest, only to look back to see Naga sitting at the border of the portal not wanting to join her. And she ran towards her to make her join her.

"Naga, come on!" Korra exclaimed as she pulled her head in, but she wouldn't budge as she whined, groaned and skidded her feet, not wanting to go in the strange place, "Naga, this is no time to play chicken." and after a second of pulling, she decided to let go and give her a little 'encouragement,' "Fine, stand guard while I go explore this _mysterious_ forest, _a__lone. _With youout here_, _and _I'm _in _here. Alone._" she egged onto her loyal companion, who just sat there before laying down and cover her eyes with her forepaws, "Hmph, some friend you've turned out to be." she turned around to walk away.

'5, 4, 3, 2, 1...' Korra thought before she felt a tackle from behind to find Naga on her back and lick her face, "Attagirl!" she laughed, knew how loyal her best friend is. And a little egging always works like a charm, like it always has.

And the two walked around to see the scenery surrounding them with the trees and vines.

"What is this place?" Korra asked Naga, and got a groan in response from Naga, who doesn't know either. They kept on walking before Korra looked to one tree that's growing strange purple fruits that are shaped like locks, and curiously, she walked to reach her hand out to pluck one out of the tree. But then, she accidentally stepped on something with her foot and removed it to see an unusual pile of dirt covering something in the shape of a small hill. So out of curiosity, she crouched down and dug up the dirt to find whatever is buried beneath it.

* * *

**Back with Kouta and Mai**

Kouta and Mai, behind a tree, saw a pair of human sized Inves in opposition of the miniature sized ones used in the Inves games. The blue one was observing some purple fruits while the red was eating another. The red stopped eating as it threw the fruit to the ground to see that it hasn't been eaten yet, which seems to be that it wasn't ripe yet. The blue one chowed down on one which means it was ripe.

"Aren't those... Inves?" Kouta asked quietly not wanting to get their attention.

"Yeah." Mai replied in the same tone.

"So this is where the Inves lives?" Kouta asked as he walked around and spotted one of the purple fruits growing out of a tree. The fruit stem resembled the lock arms of Lockseeds and the inner layer of it looks like lychee. And so Kouta plucked two out of the vines to observe them.

Mai looked at Kouta skeptically to see what he's going to do, and failed to notice something stalking behind her that's green and has long claws.

'You know... these look pretty tasty.' Kouta thought and looked ready to take a bite, but...

**SNARL! **Mai turned around and Kouta broke out of his trance to look at a fully grown Inves, but this one was completely different. It was human sized, has a resemblance of a white tiger with red eyes, green skin upper body and gray legs. It has jade shell like armor, has long sharp claws to the right hand and oriental markings on its body. This was the Byakko Inves.

The two were in great panic, "Aah!" Mai shrieked and backed away.

Kouta grabbed Mai's hand, "Mai!" he shouted and the two ran for their lives with the Byakko Inves in pursuit. They ran as fast as they can, but the beast was still behind them.

"This way!" Kouta exclaimed as they turned right and hid behind a tree, hoping to lose the monster.

After a moment Kouta looked out to see if its there or not, and it wasn't, "I think we lost it." he said and Mai gave a sigh in relief and took a breather.

After a quick second to rest, she noticed something on the ground with her eyes widen, "Kouta, look!" Mai pointed, and Kouta looked into her direction. It was the same device that Yuuya wanted to show Kouta and Mai, lying on the ground. The Sengoku Driver.

Kouta walked over to it to pick it up and show it to Mai, "Isn't this... what Yuuya wanted to show us?" he asked.

"Then that means Yuuya came through this forest too. Right?" Mai wondered as she glanced around.

Kouta held up the device and held it near his waist and asked, "What is this? It looks like a belt buckle, doesn't it?" he placed it on his waist, and when he did, he was surprised when a yellow belt formed around him, connecting him and the belt. Then a faceplate appeared on the blank side of it. It had an armored face with a crescent sword-like decoration on his forehead, a blue helmet, a rainbow-colored visor, and a steel mouthplate.

Kouta then looked at the fruits in his hand where they transformed into Lockseeds, an Orange Lockseed where it has the imprint 'LS-07,' and the Strawberry with the imprint 'LS-06.'

"Eeh?!" was the reaction of Kouta and Mai when they saw the transformation.

"What are these?! Lockseeds?!" Mai asked in surprise.

Kouta looked baffled before he spoke, "Then..." he looked around, "All of these are..." he kept looking before a familiar face appeared before them, the Byakko Inves.

"It found us!" Mai exclaimed as the two ran away again.

* * *

**Back with Korra and Naga**

Meanwhile, Korra finally dug up the dirt to find an object in a plastic bag, which peaked her curiosity.

"What is this?" Korra asked as she picked up, pulled the object out of the bag, and observed it. It was a Sengoku Driver. Although the major difference between this, Asami and Kouta's is that it looks ancient as a relic. It was made out of stone with small cracks on it, the blank side was crumbling a bit with bits missing from it, and it had some moss on the knife lever.

"I think it's a belt buckle." and curiously, the dark-skinned girl decided to put it on her waist. And like with Kouta, a yellow belt wrapped formed around her waist and it connected itself with Korra which surprised her, "Whoa, didn't see that coming." but unlike with Kouta's it didn't make a faceplate on the blank side of her belt, which apparently had a slash mark on it.

Korra then focused on the fruits as she reached for one pulled it off the vine on the tree. And to surprise her even more, it turned into a Lockseed, but it turned into the Sunflower Lockseed.

"Wait, this is one of those Lockseeds the Beat Riders used in the Inves Games." Korra stated, and she reached out for another, and it turned into another Sunflower Lockseed, "Weird."

**WOOF! WOOF! **Naga barked getting Korra's attention, "What is it girl?" she saw her growling at the fruits on another tree, which for some reason are glowing blue, "What the heck?" and she walked to it to pluck two off the tree, but unlike with the first two she plucked off, they didn't turn into Lockseeds.

'That's strange.' she thought as she stared at them, 'I thought they would at least...' she trailed off as she stared at the fruits, looking to be very... tasty. And without thinking, she slowly brought one near her mouth to eat it, but was interrupted when she heard growling noises. She looked to Naga who was growling at the four intruders surrounding the two, Inves!

"Uh-oh!" Korra exclaimed in panic as she dropped one of the fruits and ran to jump on Naga's back, with the latter still growling and stood her ground, not afraid to fight the Elementary Inves if she has to, "Let's head back to the portal!" and she did what she told and galloped to where they came in from. But then, one of the Inves that tried to attack her looked at the ground to find the fruit that Korra dropped earlier.

As Naga galloped with Korra on her back, the tanned girl looked around and thought, 'This must be where the Inves came from.' and she looked at the fruit in her hand, 'And these must be what they eat.' she then frowned, 'But why didn't _this_ changed into a Lockseed?' she reached into her pocket to bring out a Sunflower Lockseed she plucked out earlier and looked to her belt.

After a minute, they finally found the portal they came in from and jumped out of the tree, and the zipper was slowly zipping up after they got out.

Korra and Naga stopped to take a breather and turned back to see the portal closing, "It's closing." the former said in disbelief before she let out a relieved sigh and got off of Naga, "That was a close one." she looked to her companion, "We probably shouldn't go back there again, it's dangerous." and she couldn't pick better words as the dog howled in agreement. They both walked and walked until they're finally out of the forest.

However, what they didn't notice was the zipper portal was about to close up before a black clawed finger poked through to stop it. It was brought down with force to open the portal again, like a cat ripping through fabric. From there, a pair of yellow shady eyes glowed along with its body all dark purple and wispy, gave a screech.

* * *

**Back with Kouta and Mai**

Kouta and Mai ran out through the portal where they came from, but unfortunately for them, the Byakko Inves was hot on their trail as it jumped through.

"Mai, This way!" Kouta instructed as they ran through the warehouses. They kept on running and ran through a few obstacles, but they got through until they finally found a safe spot to hide.

They both sat down to take a breather with Mai asking, "What the heck was that thing?! An Inves?!"

"I don't know..." Kouta muttered through his breaths, he looked to his Orange Lockseed before turning it at the back to see that it has an octagonal shape. He looked at his belt buckle in the middle and placed his thumb into it to see that it had an octagonal porthole that the Lockseed can fit into.

And he motioned his other thumb on his Lockseed before looking at it.

**ROAR! **The Byakko Inves roared as the markings on its body glowed and shot beams out of them and they attack everything in its sight. One of the beams almost got the two, but Kouta tried cover Mai from the hit, but missed. Kouta looked up to think about the situation they're in before he looked back at Mai.

"Mai, when I draw his attention, I want you to run away from here as fast as you can." Kouta instructed not wanting her to get hurt. He was friends with her since childhood and there is no way that he's going to let her get killed for both their sake. And no way in Hell was he going be killed by her mother before the Inves does.

"Wait, what are you saying Kouta?!" Mai asked in disbelief at his stupid heroic effort.

"I'll be okay! Just go find help!" Kouta reassured her, "At this rate, one of us should at least get out of here alive!" he got up and ran out of cover.

"Kouta!" Mai called out to see her reasoning with him was in vain.

Kouta ran out of the alley to get the monster's attention, "Hey, I'm right here Ugly!" he insulted before he ran away getting its attention and the Inves chased after him. Kouta used his impressive parkour skills to jump over a barrel and a couple of crates, and another big crate before he ran again. He looked back to see the Inves still in pursuit of him, crashing through the obstacles that Kouta ran over like it was nothing.

Kouta stopped to see that a fence blocked his path and looked back at the Inves and found a couple of pipes lying around. So he picked one up as the Inves finally caught up with him.

"Take this freak!" Kouta yelled as he swung it at the Inves, but it didn't even flinch by the attack. He tried again, but was swatted away by the its claw and the monster struck his face, staggering him. It kicked him in the gut making him double over before it held him up high and threw him to a fence.

Kouta groaned in pain as he rolled on the ground after landing hard, he had blood seeping out of his mouth and he struggled to get up as he saw the Byakko Inves growling and coming towards him slowly.

He touched his belt, but mainly to his faceplate before he gained an idea as he looked to his Orange Lockseed and gained a look of determination. At this rate, it's either do or die, and there's no way in hell that he's going to die right now.

Using what's left of his strength, he got up to raise his right arm up holding his Lockseed and pressed the button on the side. The lock opened and the orange glowed a bit.

**"Orange!"**

And a zipper portal materialized above him and opened in a circle. Instead of an Inves, a giant orange appeared, but it wasn't a normal fruit, it was an orange metal sphere with metal studs. Kouta then plugged in the Orange Lockseed into the porthole of his belt and closed the lock before it shined again.

**"Lock On!"**

The belt made a horn sound like they used in the Sengoku period before it mixed in with Techno Japanese music as the Byakko Inves stared at him in annoyance.

"What should I do next?" Kouta asked before he noticed at the sword-like lever, "This?" he brought it down to the lock.

**"Soiya****!"**

It sliced the front off of the Lockseed with the slice attached to it was hanging off of it. The inside of the slice had a picture of a katana with the blade resembling an orange slice.

And the orange sphere dropped on Kouta's head and landed on his shoulders. Then energy surged out of the orange and went through Koua's body, which coated him in armor. He had a blue bodysuit with golden bracers on his arms and legs. On the left side of his belt was a katana/gun hybrid weapon with the same octagonal porthole as his belt.

**"Orange Arms! Hanamichi On Stage!"**

"Eh, I'm an Orange now?" Kouta asked in bafflement before his head was covered in a blue helmet with a silver mouthpiece, a dark gray visor, and a golden headdress on his forehead with a diamond through it which looks like a crescent katana. And his visor turned into orange slice when it landed on his head along with an orange helmet. The orange sphere then dropped and formed, with the sides brought down in the form of shoulder pads, the chest plate with two black lines above it from left to right, and on his back was the top of the orange that folded back. And the sword that was on his sliced Lockseed was in his right hand. Kazuraba Kouta is now Kamen Rider Gaim or Armored Rider Gaim, and he wields the Daidaimaru and the Musou Saber.

"Huh?" Gaim asked looking at the orange blade in his hand before looking down at himself in bafflement, "Eeeh?!"

The Byakko Inves didn't care as it jumped towards him, which caught him off guard, and it grabbed him by the shoulders and started smacking him with his clawed hand.

"Hey! Ow! Ow! That really hurt ya jerk!" Gaim yelled as he flipped it off his back making it land on its back. The rider looked at himself to see that he's unharmed, "Hey, that didn't hurt at all." he was then chased by the Inves into a warehouse.

"Hey hold on now!" Gaim said as he raised his Daidaimaru up to block the incoming attack before he was slammed into a wall and blocked its attack again, "S-stop it! I said knock it off!" he slashed him vertically through the chest with sparks flying out of it. And he did it again horizontally before he paused to see it still standing, "Huh? Uh-oh! Wait, wait a minute now." he backed away before being pushed into a couple of boxes and through some barrels and crates outside as he rolled over.

Gaim got up and thrust Daidaimaru again only to be swatted away to the floor like it did with the pipe, and the Byakko Inves grabbed the Armored Rider by the throat to slash him with its clawed hand. But it failed to notice the Rider placed his right hand on the Musou Saber.

"I can use this." Gaim said before he drew it out and slashed the Inves across the stomach just when it was about to bring the final blow and sparks flew out of his stomach. And he did it again, staggering him before he grabbed Daidaimaru off the ground with his left hand.

Now with two swords, the Rider has the advantage as he swung both swords and shouted, "Bring it on!" he charged at the Inves and slashed it down three times from left to right and vertically with both blades.

Seeing the damage that the Byakko Inves was inflicted with, it decided to retreat with the Rider in pursuit.

"Get back here!" Gaim shouted as he chased after it before he saw it jump with great strength, "Whoa, he jumped!" and up to a tower with the railing of the stairs and on to another and onto the balcony. It faced the Rider again and shot its beams towards him but missed as they hit a couple of cars around him. They exploded, but the Rider was okay.

"My turn!" Gaim exclaimed as he jumped with great strength like the Inves, but he grabbed the railing instead as he hung there. And to make matters worse, the Inves ran to him and pushed him off with a punch and Gaim fell back to the ground as a gate fell on him and he kicked it off in frustration.

"Just wait right there!" he looked to see the stairs, ran to it and ran up.

"Did you miss me?" Gaim asked as he got there but got kicked in the gut and fell on the railings as the two are now dueling on equal grounds. The Byakko Inves tackled him, holding him down on the railings before Gaim looked at the yellow part of his Musou Saber that looks like a ring, "Hmm? What's this do?" he pulled it and it made beeping sounds as lighted dots appeared on the yellow part of the blade and he accidentally pulled the trigger, shooting the Inves in the stomach.

"Whoa! Didn't see that coming." Gaim said before he realized, "Wait, that's it!" he pulled it again, making the lighted dots appeared on the blade again and shot at the Inves again and again and again! **CLICK! **But it cocked when he ran out, "Huh?!" **CLICK! CLICK! CLICK! **he pulled again, but to no avail, he was out of ammo, "Oh come on! I'm out already?!" He was about to reload again, but he dodged the incoming attack from the Byakko Inves. He got into a self-defense position before he noticed a hole at the butt of his Daidaimaru's hilt. And He looked at the Musou Saber's to see that it's the right size for it.

"Hmm, I wonder." Gaim said with thought as he put the two blades together, connecting them both to form a double bladed naginata, "Whoa! They've combined!" he exclaimed as he spun it slowly.

The Inves snarled as it charged at Gaim again, and he dodged his attacks before it ran up the stairs with Gaim in pursuit, "Get back here you chicken!" he yelled as they both clashed with their blades. And before he knew it, he was thrown off the railings by the Inves and landed back on the ground below, again.

Gaim tried to get up before he felt a presence by the stairs. He looked up to see a girl in white clothing, a black belt, brown boots, a necklace, strawberry blond hair, and a red eye in her right socket. And strangely, she looked exactly like Mai, but she is known as the Priestess of Fate.

Gaim looked surprised and confused by her appearance, "Mai?" he asked skeptically, not knowing if that's her or not.

But she simply said, "Exercise caution, for you are about to make a decision that'll change your fate."

"Is that you, Mai?!" Gaim asked as he got to his knees.

She ignored his question, "If you proceed," she said as she walked down the stairs, "Then there is no point of return. Till the very end, you shall fight." she got to the bottom, "You shall dye the world in your colors." what she said to him didn't make sense, but it sounded like some sort of warning.

Gaim fully got up in his feet and responded, "Well..." he paused before he saw the Byakko Inves jumped down behind him and turned to it. And he got in front of 'Mai' in a defensive position to protect her, "If it's to protect you... Then I..."

'Mai' sighed sadly as she placed her hand on his Orange Lockseed on his belt to press the button, removing it.

**"Lock Off!"**

"Huh?" Gaim asked as to wonder why did she remove the Lockseed from his belt. 'Mai' simply showed it to him and placed it on his left hand. The Inves charged at them, But Gaim blocked his attack and slashed it off the building, making it crash into a bunch of boxes and barrels. And the Rider jumped off the building to land on his feet and faced 'Mai' again, who was pointing towards his Musou Saber. He looked at the Porthole for the Lockseed as he placed it in and locked it.

**"Lock On!"**

"Like this?" he asked her, only to see her gone and out of sight.

**"1, 10, 100, 1000!"**

He looked to see the Inves getting up again as it threw the barrel off its face and it looked angry. It was ready to shoot its beams again, but Gaim was ready for it.

"Here it comes." Gaim said readying himself to defend again, the Inves shot its beams, but Gaim deflected it with effort as he spun his combined weapons like a windmill. And the Inves was baffled to see that none of its attacks went through.

Gaim, with his Musou Saber glowing with energy took a stance, "Here I come!" he shouted as he slashed at the Inves with a couple of energy slices at it, trapping it inside in an energy force field that's in the shape of an orange with the green stem on top and Gaim spun his combined weapons to deliver the finishing blow.

**"Orange Charge!"**

Gaim gave a battle cry as he darted towards the Inves and slashed it in half along with the orange. And it exploded with a couple of orange slices flying out of it, thus defeating the monster at last.

And with that, Gaim took the Orange Lockseed of his Musou Saber and back onto his Driver where he locked it, folded it and turned back to normal with the armor disappearing. Kouta breathed out as he looked behind to see if it was real or not and looked down back at his hands as they were shaking, at what he experienced.

Mai then ran over to him to see if he's alright or not, "Kouta!"

Kouta was silence before he spoke, "Mai..." he wanted to ask if it's really her or not, "What was that just now?"

But she didn't pay attention to his question and asked her own, "Where did that monster go? Did you kill it?" she looked around with worry, afraid to see if it's still around.

Kouta, realizing that she's not the same person he saw before, looked down to his Lockseed, he unlocked it to pull it out and locked it again.

"Hey, Kouta." Mai said before she turned back to him, and he stared at his Lockseed.

"This is my..." Kouta said before a pause, "Transformation."

Mai was about to ask what he's talking about before her phone rang and she picked it up to see that it was Micchy who's calling, "Hello?" she greeted.

"_Mai-san! We've got trouble!" _Micchy's voice said in an anxious tone.

Hearing his tone, Mai asked, "Micchy? What's wrong?!"

"_There's a purple monster on the loose! And it's attacking Town Square!"_

"A monster?!" Mai asked and thought, 'Another Inves?' thinking back at the portal, they could have easily went through the portal that she and Kouta were in, and might have slipped by when they weren't looking.

Kouta looked at her with concern, "Mai, what's wrong?" seeing her frantic face wasn't a good sign.

Mai gave a nod, "Okay, call my mom for help, and we'll be right there." she ended the call and turned to Kouta to explain.

* * *

**Outskirts of Town Square**

After a brief explanation, Kouta and Mai were running towards the center of Town Square, and hopefully with Kouta's ability to transform they might be able to defeat it. And hopefully Chief Takatsukasa will hold off the Inves until they get there.

"I hope we're not too late." Kouta said in between breaths.

Mai thought of her mother, 'Mom, please hold on before we get there.' prayed mentally. Even though she's a tough police officer, there is no way that she could take on an Inves.

* * *

**Center of Town Square**

Korra, covered in bruises and a scratch on her leg with Naga by her side growling, and Chief Takatsukasa and a couple of police officers behind her lying on the ground unconscious. She held a metal bat towards a human sized lizard-type creature. It had a dark purple wisp color around its body, sharp claws, and yellow eyes. This is a Lizard Inves **(10)**, and it's the same Inves that tear through the zipper portal on the tree from the forest.

'Okay, I know for a fact that it might have come from the strange forest. But that doesn't explain how it got through after the portal closed up.' she mentally stated, 'And what does it want?' she was so focused on the creature, that she didn't even bother to pay attention to her right pocket that was glowing blue.

The Lizard Inves gave a hiss as it opened its mouth, ready to bite its victim's head off.

* * *

**Next time on Kamen Rider Gaim/Avatar:**

**Chapter 2: Her purpose! The Blue Watermelon Rider!**

"Just what are these things?" Korra asked as she looked at her Lockseeds.

"Get away from her!" Gaim yelled as he slashed the Lizard Inves.

Korra's eyes widen to see her Sengoku Driver transformed, "This is...!"

"You don't have to fight alone anymore!" Korra yelled as she brought out her Blue Watermelon Lockseed **(****11)**, "Henshin!"

"**Water Arms, the Element of Change!"**

"Take this!" Avatar yelled as she dove in for the kick.

* * *

**So what do you all think? I'm sorry for not focusing on Tsukune Farron for this month, but a writer's gotta start on a second story right? Anyway, please review in telling me of what you all think. And FYI: I have seen episode 1 scenes so many times, it drove me crazy! It took me weeks to make this chapter. So until then, buh-bye!**

* * *

**List of References:**

**(1) Mulan- based on the legendary figure in China, Hua Mulan.**

**(2) Avatar- the human embodiment of light and peace through the connection with the Avatar Spirit.**

**(3) Masamune- based on Japan's greatest swordsmith.**

**(4) Nuktuk- based on Bolin's character in his movie.**

**(5) Nozomi- it can mean face, attend, command, hope, beauty, sea, truth, satisfy, full, wish, and fascination. **

**(6) Gommu- it can mean rubber, and he's based on the hobo character who used to be a telegraph for the United Forces.**

**(7) Lin Takatsukasa- she is Lin Beifong, but with a different surname.**

**(8) Wolfbats- a Pro-bending team in Legend of Korra.**

**(9) Fire Ferrets- Korra's former Pro-bending team.**

**(10) Lizard Inves- based on the first Dark Spirit in Season 2 of Legend of Korra.**

**(11) Air Lockseed- to be announced.**

**(12) Water Lockseed- to be announced.**

**(13) Hybrid Animals- based on the animals on both Avatar and Korra series.**

**(14) Blue Watermelon- to be announced.**

**(15) White Watermelon- based on the White Wonder Watermelon**

**(16) Lychee- the sole member of the genus _Litchi _in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae.**

**(17) Chui- a Chinese melee weapon that consists of a large, solid metal sphere on the end of a medium-long handle.**


	2. Her purpose! The Blue Watermelon Rider!

**Alright you guys, here's another chapter of Kamen Rider Gaim and Avatar! Although I gotta say, I never thought I'd get this done in less than a month, it takes me more than 31 days to write another chapter in my first story! Speaking of which, I'm afraid I'm going to have to put this story on hold for a bit, I wanna focus on the next chapter Tsukune Farron, I don't wanna disappoint the fans. And have you guys seen the first two episodes of Kamen Rider Drive, that was awesome! Anyway, please enjoy to your hearts' content!**

**P.S.: I'm afraid that exams next week might put me on hold for writing. So wish me luck!**

**Disclaimers: I don't own Kamen Rider Gaim or The Legend of Korra**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Her purpose! The Blue Watermelon Rider!**

**The Mysterious Forest**

In the forest where the Inves reside in, a bald man in his thirties with sideburns, wearing a half torn shirt was running for his life. His name is Kinoaki Shin **(****1)**, an employee of Yggdrasil Corporation, he worked from bottom to top for years, until they found out he's using a clever alias and infiltrated their company as a spy for another. He is now being chased by four soldiers wearing matching black uniforms with chest and shoulder pads along helmets, who were also carrying guns as they tried to shoot him down.

"There's nowhere for you to run Kinoaki!" one soldier yelled.

"Just turn yourself in and accept your fate." another suggested and cocked his gun.

"How about you accept _these_?!" Shin yelled, bringing out two Lockseeds, one pinecone and an acorn, and he activated them both to bring out two human sized Inves through zipper portals.

"What the-?" the first soldier asked as he was tackled by a red elemental Inves, "Aah!"

The soldiers were surprised by the attack and ready to shoot it down before they were attacked from behind by a blue one. And while they were distracted, this was Shin's chance to escape, but unfortunately...

**BANG! **"Aah!" Shin cried after he was shot in the arm, he dropped both of his Lockseeds and fell to his knees. The shot didn't hit anything vital, but it would turn fatal if left untreated.

**BANG! BANG! BANG! **The Inves were also shot from behind as a white figure stood behind them in the shadows, carrying a Musou Saber and a shield in his hands. He walked out to reveal himself as a white body-suited armored samurai warrior with green and golden melon armor on his chest, shoulder, a helmet along with a green visor, and a golden stag headdress on his head. And on his left arm, he holds a green melon themed shield that resembles his head. He is Kamen Rider Zangetsu, or Armored Rider Zangetsu.

He charged towards the staggered Inves to slash them down, killing them as they exploded. The rider glanced at Shin, still clutching onto his gunshot wound.

"You're not going anywhere." Zangetsu said, and the four recovered soldiers, surrounded the man with their guns pointed at him, "You've got some nerve stealing from us after changing your name, and worked for our company to infiltrate into our ranks. It was a good plan, but you didn't think through on the setbacks while working your way up, did you?" he walked towards the man and kneeled down to his eye level, "Now then, _where_ did you hide it?"

* * *

**Center of Town Square**

We go to Korra and Naga, with the former covered in bruises and a scratch on her leg, and standing in front of the unconscious Chief Takatsukasa on the ground along with a couple of police officers. She held a metal bat towards the Lizard Inves that attacked them earlier, ready to bite her head off.

"Ready to do this Naga?" Korra asked her loyal friend only to get a growl and a bark in response, and she took that as a yes, "That's what I wanna hear, now let's take this monster down!" and the two charged at the Inves and the monster was ready to attack. But they stopped when gunshots were heard and sparks flew out from the Inves' right side as it was being pelted by bullets.

Arriving at the scene was Gaim, yelling a battle cry and charging at the monster with his Musou Saber in his right hand and Daidaimaru on his left.

"Get away from her!" Gaim yelled as he slashed down the Inves with both swords, with sparks flying out of it.

"Huh?" Korra asked with a blink in confusion to see an orange armored samurai fighting the Lizard Inves, "An orange samurai?" the brunette asked slowly, she has heard many strange things in Japan, but to see an orange samurai of all things. But what really caught her eye was the belt he's wearing, which kinda looks like the one she has, only, it's brand new. And she looked at hers around the waist.

"He has the same belt as I do." Korra said to herself, and a thought crossed her mind as she tapped a finger on her chin in thought, "Wait, I think I've heard of this kind of guy from before. But what?"

* * *

**(The scene now zipped to reveal the opening)**

**(Insert OP: Just Live More by Gaim no Kaze)**

(The opening begins with Kamen Rider Gaim, Baron, Ryugen, and Zangetsu in their battle stance with a fence behind their backs with locks. They were then switched by Gaim with Avatar, Baron with Mulan, Ryugen with Nuktuk, and Zangetsu with Masamune. And the camera now focusing on Avatar switching to Gaim who readied his sword.)

**Got it, Move...Wow,  
**(Helheim's vines diminished as they reveal the four elements, earth, fire, air, and water. They were cut down by slashes until the title of the series reveals itself.)**  
Kamen Rider Gaim and Avatar**

**Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!  
Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!  
**(We cut to the eight riders in a room full of samurai armor as they took their pose. The scene shifted to Gaim in an empty world while he held out his Musou Saber with Kouta's reflection under him, holding his sword of course.)**  
Sabaibaru! You got move. Gendai wa sanagara Sengoku  
Survival! You got move. The present day is just like the Sengoku period.**

(Kouta ran towards the screen, but stopped when a fence with locks blocked his path. He then sees his double in front of him, holding a Lockseed, and he calls out to him. But he and the fence immediately turned into stone, then to dust and blown away by the wind as the other Kouta simply walked away.)

**Dare ga kachinukeru? Kagi wa hirake rarete shimatta!**

**Who will win? The lock has been opened!  
**(We take the next scene to Team Baron, with Kaito leading in front of Zack, and Peco, who are dancing in front of a building. We shift to Kouta and Kaito, who looked at each other with Lockseeds in their hands. Kouta holding his Orange Lockseed and Kaito holding his Banana Lockseed. Below them is their reflection in their rider forms, Kamen rider Gaim and Kamen Rider Baron, who darted towards each other to fight. We shift to Korra, Asami, Mako, and Bolin who had their backs turned to each other and took their battle stance, and their reflections replaced by their rider counterparts Avatar, Mulan, Masamune, and Nuktuk did the same, only with their weapons in their hands.)

**Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!**

**Doko ni aru?**

**Where is it?**

**Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!**

(We shift back to Gaim and Baron's fight, and in their reflection Kouta and Kaito were in some kind of hand-wrestle with their lockseeds in their hands. We go to Micchy, who picked up his Budou Lockseed and saw his older brother, Takatora, holding his Melon Lockseed. And their Rider counterparts are in their reflections. He ran towards him, but like with Kouta, a fence with locks blocked his path before Takatora looked behind to see his younger brother and Zangetsu held his Musou Saber near Ryugen's neck.)**  
Do tsukau, kindan no kajitsu?!  
How shall it be used, that forbidden fruit?!**

**(**Back in the room where the riders posed, one by one appeared from Gaim to Avatar. We go to Gaim in Suika Arms only to go gyro mode, and Baron, drove right past him on Rose Attacker. And the next scene shows the characters Henshin with their Sengoku Drivers in order, from Zangetsu to Masamune, Ryugen, Nuktuk, Baron, Mulan, Avatar, and Gaim.) **  
`Ima' to iu kaze wa nani o tsutaeru tame? [Omae no moto ni fuku? Tsuyoku Tsuyoku! Blowin' up!]**

**What is the wind of the moment trying to say? [Is it blowing to you? Get stronger, much stronger! Blowin' up!]**

(Gaim drew his Musou Saber to battle, and he slashed an inves with his hybrid weapon across the stomach. Next we go to Team Gaim dancing in front of their headquarters, then we go to Team Fire Ferrets headquarters with the team doing their dance, and the same goes to Mulan. The cameras then shifts focus on Kouta, Mai, Micchy, Korra, Mako, Bolin, and Asami dancing. And we go to Kouta greeting Mai and their reflections show Kaito with the Priestess of Fate, who looks like Mai.)**  
**(We go to Zangetsu who aims his Musou Saber at the screen with an army of pinecone samurai themed riders behind him holding spears. Next we have Kamen Rider Gaim with Avatar slashing down the pinecone themed riders while Baron and Mulan did the same in Gaim and Avatar's reflection.)

**Ashita ga yume ga mada mienakute mo [Soko genkai? Seiippai ikite iru to ierunara?]**

**Even if you can't dream of the future [Is that your limit? Can you say you're living without your might?]  
(**In a forest, Kamen Rider Ryugen shoots down a fence blocking his path and ran forward and we go back to Team Gaim/Fire Ferrets/Mulan in a three way split screen who finished their dance, disappeared. And we focus on Gaim's outside headquarters to be replaced by the Priestess of Fate, who points towards the screen.)**  
**(Next we focus on Gaim's arms, Lockseed, and Daidaimaru to the floor, and we focus back to Gaim slicing down to the screen with the pinecone riders standing behind him.)

**Utsumuku na yo... [Kao agero!] Doko madede mo... [Mageru koto naku!]**

**Don't look down... [Lift up your face!] No matter where you are... [Don't become twisted!]  
**(We shift to Banana arms with the Banana Lockseed and Banaspear, then to Team Baron finishing their dance, and we go to Kamen Rider Baron slashing down inves in the mysterious forest with his banaspear and finished with a pose. Next we shift to Starfruit Arms with the Starfruit Lockseed and Starfruit Saber, Budou Arms with the Grape Lockseed and Budou Ryuhou, Melon Arms with the Melon Lockseed and the Melon Defender, Fire Arms with the Fire Chili Pepper Lockseed and Hiegashimaru, Earth Arms with the Earth Coconut Lockseed and Tsuchui, and Water Arms with the Water Watermelon Lockseed and Mizuspear.)

**Shinjita michi o yuke, JUST LIVE MORE!  
Follow the path you believe in, Just Live More!**

(All eight riders are back to back with each other, swinging and aiming their weapons towards the screen. We next go to Kouta who ran towards the fence of locks, screaming until the premature Lockseed fruits and plants grew around him.)

**Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!**

(Finally, we see Kamen Rider Gaim riding on his horse to battle along with Avatar riding on Naga by his side.)

* * *

**Town Square 10 minutes early**

After Korra and Naga escape the mysterious forest where the Inves reside in, they went to Town Square to stop and rest by the water fountain where she met Kouta for the second time. The polar bear dog was drinking out a large water bowl after the dark-skinned girl scooped up some from the fountain, and she sat down on the edge of the fountain.

The brunette pulled out the Lockseeds that she got from the forest, "Just what are these things?" Korra asked as she observed them, "These locks are from that strange forest where those Inves live and they can summon them." and she looked to the porthole on her ancient belt and it had the same shape as her Lockseed.

From there, the brunette had an idea, "Hmm, I wonder..." Korra said in thought, out of curiosity she unlocked one Sunflower Lockseed and placed it in her belt's porthole before locking it. It glowed for a moment along with the belt much to her surprise, "Whoa..." and to surprise her even more, it was glowing again and gave a pulsing sound like a heartbeat.

Korra then looked to her right pocket where the glowing purple fruit is. and she was about to bring it out, only to stop to hear a commotion.

Around the corner, an elderly man was pushed out of his shop and fell to the ground. He struggled to get up to see three finely dressed shady-looking men walked out of an antique shop with smug looks on their faces. They are known as the Triple Threat Triad**(2)**, a criminal organization that resides in Zawame city, and many say that they are even more dangerous and intimidating than the average Yakuza.

The middle one in the group has light dark skin, sideburns and a chin-strap beard, wore a blue coat and matching pants, white shirt, and a white fedora hat. His name, not important but goes by the alias Viper **(3)**, he's one of the leaders of the triad, and he runs a 'protection racket' in the city in one of the city's district. It's a miracle that these crooks aren't caught yet by the police force yet.

To Viper's left is a man who is shorter than the two, has slick hair and a pointy mustache, pale skin and a scar across his left eye. He wore a black suit with a red scarf around his neck. He is known as "Two-Toed" Ping **(4)**, the smart and wise guy of the group.

And to the right of the former, is a large man with a shaved haircut, who appears to be all brawn and no brain, and he wore a green Chinese tunic with black pants. He goes by the alias Qiáng** (5)**, and he is the muscle member of the group.

"Your dues are behind Chung-san** (6)**." Viper said as he stepped forward, "Please pay us or my friends here won't guaranteed that they won't protect your fine establishment." He gestured to Ping and Qiáng with the former bringing out a metal bat and the latter slamming his fist into his palm.

"I-I'm sorry, but business has been slow." the elder called Chung apologized, "Please, take anything you like from the store." it appears that he is under the 'Protection Program' of the triads and is having hard time paying the bills.

The three glanced at one another before they laughed, "Oh I'm sorry, but my friends aren't antique collectors." Viper said mockingly, and he walked up to him, "Now give us the money, or we trash the place until it's nothing but rubble."

Mr. Chung glanced away nervously, he can't pay them right now, and business has been tough on him since no one was bothering to stop by at his shop. He had already gave them _all_ of his fine jewelry from the last time they visited. And seeing that he has no choice, he may as well let them do as they please, but...

"Leave him alone!" a voice demanded and the three mobsters turned to the voice to see Micchy carrying bags. The teen was out doing some shopping some soda and snacks for his teammates, and he went by this district because it was faster. And there was a reason why no one uses it, it's because of these triad thugs.

"Stay out of this kid, this is none of your business." Viper warned him with intimidation.

"It is when you Triad thugs are picking on a defenseless old man." Mitsuzane said as he dropped his bags and reached into his pocket, "And I should say the same to the witnesses around here." to prove his point, the bystanders popped out of their hiding places, looking with stunning worry to see the young man stand up to the triad members.

The three thugs looked to each other and laughed, thinking that this kid is joking, trying to play hero here. And if these witnesses were so tough as him, why didn't they come out and face them from before?

"You're pretty funny kid." Viper said, he opened his coat to reveal a gun holster on his belt with the gun in it, "I hate funny kids. So I'll let you off with a warning, skedaddle on out of here and forget what you just saw today."

Micchy didn't leave from his spot, nor didn't show any fear on his face as he slowly brought out his Sunflower Lockseed out of his coat pocket. For it is not only for summoning Inves, but it's also for summoning the force field for the battle between Inves, one that _anyone_ can be trapped if you activate them and have them in the distance of it. And he was planning to trap these thugs and call the police.

"Bastard!" a female voice shouted and before Viper could respond...

**WHAM! **He was kneed in the head by a certain dark-skinned girl and was slammed into the front of a car. _His _car. And he comically slid down until he hit the ground, unconscious.

Micchy, Mr. Chung, Ping and Qiáng were taken aback by Korra's surprise attack. The gangsters gazed at the brunette before each other and nodded furiously. Qiáng was the first to move as he tried to punch her, but Korra dodged it effortlessly by taking a step back for his slow movement. Seeing how big he is, there's no guarantee the girl will beat him in close combat. So she did what she's not afraid to do if she had to... fight dirty.

**WHACK! **She kicked him _really _hard in the groin area, making his eyes nearly popping out of his head in pain, and he cried out in pure agony as he held his family jewels.

Qiáng recoiled in pain, "Ow! That really hurt..." he moaned out before falling to his knees and flat on his face to the hard ground, knocking him out unconscious as well. Everyone watching the fight felt sorry for the man, even if he is a triad member, no man should ever suffer from getting kicked in the groin.

Ping snapped out of his stupor, realizing that he was the last man standing, he stared at the girl with a nervous and shaky look on his face. Sweat was pouring down as he held his metal bat towards the girl and attempt the tough guy act but was failing.

"You should give up while you can." Korra said with a smug smile, "Unless you wanna join your friends here."

Without warning Ping gave a loud battle cry as he closed his eyes and swung his bat in blind fury, hoping to at least hit her once. But he didn't notice Micchy, who was still there, pulled out his Sunflower Lockseed and tossed it to the ground to aim at the man's feet. Ping slipped and tripped on it like soap, making him fall forward, passed Korra after she moved to the left, and...

**SLAM! **Ping's face slammed into a lamp post, he slid down comically like his friend Viper, and needless to say, he's out cold with a dented and dopey look on his face. You could almost see birds flying around his head.

"Well, I say that takes care of these hoodlums." Korra said with a proud smile as she crossed her arms, she turned to the Beat Rider, "Thanks for your help stranger."

Micchy nodded, "No problem, I'll call the police." he said, dialing 199 on his cell phone.

Korra looked to see Mr. Chung still on the floor with a look of awe and shock, stunned to see the young lady take out three members of the triads effortlessly.

"Are you okay?" Korra asked, offering a helping hand to him.

Mr. Chung shook out of his stupor, accepted her hand, and got up, "Yes, I'm fine." he replied and gave a grateful smile to her, "Thank you for saving my life."

Korra returned his smile with her own, "You're welcome. But I shouldn't take all the credit, this guy tripped the last one when he..." she looked to where he is, only to see him disappear, "Where did he go?"

Mr. Chung looked around to find the young man and said, "Whoever he is, I guess he doesn't want to take _some_ of the credit." he gave a chuckle, "How nice it is to be young and modest." and he missed those days so.

Korra sighed, 'I didn't even ask what his name is.' she complained mentally before she tapped her chin and gave a puzzled look, 'And why does he look so familiar?'

* * *

**Five Minutes Later**

Six police officers arrived at the scene after receiving an anonymous tip from Mitsuzane, and they've arrested three members of the Triple Threat Triad.

Mr. Chung, Korra, and everyone else who was at the crime scene explained to the Lieutenant about what happened, how Korra stopped two of the three triads along with Micchy tripping the third one.

"Take them away boys." the captain ordered his men as he finished writing up his report, and he turned to Mr. Chung "We've been trying to catch these guys for months." the four officers placed handcuffs on the three mobsters and brought them up to bring them to the police car. One escorting Viper, another with Ping, and two with Qiáng since he's big.

As soon as they left, the lieutenant turned to Korra, "You too young lady."

Korra was taken aback by the officer's remark, "What? Why me?!" she demanded.

The officer next to him pulled out his notepad to point out, "Vigilantism, property damage..." he pointed to the pole with Ping's face implant on it, "And not following the leash law for your polar bear dog." he gestured to the fountain to where Naga is drinking out of.

Seeing the two officers approach her, Korra protested, "Hold on, in my defense, they were about to hurt the old man. If I hadn't done anything, I would have let them get away with it."

Mr. Chung also protested, "Officer please. She saved my life, just let her off the hook, she was only doing what's right."

"Right or wrong, you're still coming with us." the captain said, he turned to his officer with a nod, and the latter brought out an extra pair of cuffs.

**SNARL! **A black blur thrashed the officer, sending him flying into the fountain's water. Naga stopped drinking and growled at the unwanted guest. It was the Lizard Inves that came out of the mysterious forest.

"What the...?!" the captain exclaimed as he brought out his gun to shoot the beast, but the Inves slapped it away and grabbed him by the throat with its left hand, "A monster...?" he choked out.

"Inves..." Korra muttered in shock to see it came out of nowhere, but her expression changed to concern to see the police officer being strangled by the monster, 'I gotta do something, but what?" she looked to the bat that Ping was using.

"Monster!" Mr. Chung screamed out before he ran inside his shop and everyone else fled the scene. He then called out to Korra, "Hurry! Come inside!" but Korra ignored his warning as she picked up the bat and gave a determined look.

As the Inves was ready to impale the choking officer with one of its clawed hands, Korra slammed the bat to its head. But it didn't even flinch, it simply turned its head to the brunette and released its grip on the officer. He laid on the ground and gasped for air, and the creature looked to the dark-skinned girl with irritation with a growl. Korra then whistled, much to the monster's confusion to why she just whistled.

**ROAR! **Naga roared and rammed into the Inves with her strength, making it her turn to send it flying and slammed into the lamp post where Ping crashed into. It laid there unconscious, but was bound to wake up soon.

Korra patted her friend's head, "Good girl." she said before running to the fountain to pull the officer out of the fountain, "Now let's help these guys inside the shop." Naga used her teeth to drag the lieutenant by the collar away in the shop where Mr. Chung opened the door and brought them in to treat them.

Behind a corner was Micchy, after he picked up his Lockseed and left the scene, he realized that he left his bags in front of the antique shop and went back. But when he got there, he saw the monster and brought out his phone to call Mai.

After a moment, the monster screeched and rose up, furious by the attack from before, it looked around while sniffing the air, trying to find the assailant.

Behind the counter are Korra, Naga, Mr. Chung, and the unconscious police officers, the three stuck their heads out to see that monster still out there and did something that surprised them. It opened its mouth gave a high-pitched screech, creating a sound wave from its mouth, hitting everything in sight with sparks flying out, the lamp post, the fountain, and the sign on the antique shop. The sound wave shattered the shop's window, door and some of the priceless antiques inside the shop, fine china, glasses on clocks, and etc. And the three got down, covered their ears to shield themselves from the sound it's making.

As soon as it died down, Mr. Chung asked, "Where did that thing come from?!" he was shocked to see such power from a creature that could make this much damage to his shop. Korra released her hands from her ears and looked to Naga, still placing her paws on top of her ears. Being part dog, she is sensitive to high-pitched sounds, and she petted her head in sympathy.

Korra looked up to see it still out there, and went back down when it's about to look in her direction.

"I don't know." she replied, "And I don't think I want to know."

Korra looked to her belt and Lockseed to see it stopped glowing after attacking the triad members, and to her pocket to see her purple fruit still glowing. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that these, mainly the belt would help her in someway, somehow.

And just as something had hit her in the head, Korra remembered the portal that she and Naga went through that leads to the mysterious forest where she found the belt and Lockseeds and left. It was possible that this Inves followed the two and somehow got through before it closed up.

The question is, was it her fault that she brought the Inves to their world? She shook her head at that. No, this isn't the time to play the blame game, this is the time for action, and it will only be a matter of time until the monster find them in their hiding place.

With a determined look, she looked to Naga, who mirrored her expression with a growl and the two nodded.

"Wait, what are you-? Where are you going?" Mr. Chung asked as he saw her getting up and rode on Naga's saddle on her back.

"I'm going to lead it away from here." Korra said before she mushed the reigns on her dog, "Let's go Naga!" the polar bear dog barked in response and started running.

"Stop! Do you know what you're up against?!" Mr. Chung demanded, not moving from his hiding spot.

"Nope, not a clue." was her response and the two jumped out of the windowless window, getting the Inves' attention. Korra taunted, "Hey! Big black and ugly! You want us?! Then come and get us!" she mushed Naga and the two were galloping away, leading the Inves away from here.

But it did something else that Korra and Naga didn't expect it to do. It jumped with great strength and landed in front of the two, creating a crack on the ground, and blocked their path.

"Okay, I did _not _know it could do that." Korra commented in disbelief, and she got off her polar bear dog. The brunette readied her bat in her hands to fight the beast once more, "Let's do this Naga!" and they both charged at the creature.

Naga charged at the right side of the Lizard Inves to bite its right arm and used her strength to keep it from moving, making it snarl in pain. Her jaws were so strong that black liquid came out of its shoulder, which appears to be its blood. Korra began whacking its left side with her metal bat, it didn't do much damage considering the first time she hit it, but it was better than doing nothing. It was then it used its sonic wave screech at Korra and Naga at point-blank making the former dropped her bat and held her ears. The latter yelped by the sound wave and was forced to release her bite off of it, and she yelped even louder after it wrapped its tail around Naga's neck and flung her, sending her flying across town until she hit the ground, tumbling and sliding until she stopped. She laid there unconscious, possibly knocked out by after tumbling and sliding on the ground or by the high-pitched screech, point-blank. It could have been a little of both.

The Lizard Inves readied one of its claws to finish off Naga. After getting bit in the shoulder and bleeding from it, it wanted nothing more than to finish off the polar bear dog quickly. But the Inves didn't notice Korra running towards it, giving a battle cry, and whacked her bat real hard on its bleeding shoulder. It screeched in pain and clutched onto its wound, enraged, it turned and glared right at her and readied both of its clawed hands.

"Uh-oh." Korra muttered, realizing she made a huge mistake by hitting its wound and making it angry even more. She backed away a bit before it lunged at her and she jumped to her left before its hand made contact with her right leg, giving her a scratch.

"Aah!" she cried out in pain, rolled to the ground, and held onto her wound. Korra hissed in pain and struggled to get up, but the Inves kicked her by the shoulder, making her roll on her back. And it walked up to her and raised its leg to stomp on her, but...

**BANG! **A gunshot was heard and sparks flew out of the Inves' left side of its head, and many more by the barrage of bullets to its arm, leg, and stomach, staggering it until it fell to the ground. Korra looked to where the gunshots were fired from.

It was Chief Takatsukasa and two officers by her side holding guns in their hands and a shotgun was strapped on the former's back. The chief had received a phone call from Mitsuzane about a monster attacking, but she figured that it was just some Inves Game between Beat Rider teams or something. Well apparently she was wrong after hearing the screech it made earlier, she and her fellow officers followed it.

"So there really is an Inves attacking Town Square." Lin commented, putting her gun in her holster and approached the brunette to help her up while the two officers ran by her side, still aiming their guns towards the creature, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Korra answered, took her hand and got up. Naga woke up just in time to see the wound on Korra's leg, so she walked up to her side and licked her wound, hoping to heal it. This gesture made the brunette smile, "Thanks girl."

**SCREECH! **The three turned to the Inves rising up again, really angry as it screeched its sound wave once more, which was more powerful than the last one. The officers were ready to aim fire, but immediately dropped their guns, and cried while shielding their ears and fell to the ground, trying to shield off the sound from its powerful screech reaching their ears, but failed. Korra, Naga, and Lin too covered their ears as well and shut their eyes by the monster's attack.

Lin, still shielding her ears from the attack looked up to see it screeching, deciding to risk it she released her hands from her head and bring out her shotgun. Enduring the high-pitched screech piercing her ears, she gritted her teeth to concentrate, took aim, and spotted the wounded shoulder.

"Chew on this you freak." Lin declaring, aiming at the wound, and pulled the trigger. The shot hit the Lizard Inves' shoulder, and it was so powerful that sparks flew out and the pain was burning into its wound. It stopped screeching and gave a low screech in pain as it held onto its wound and fell on its back to the ground again.

"Bullseye..." Lin muttered out before she passed out and fell to the ground with the shotgun still in her hands.

Korra released her ears and opened her eyes to hear the screeching has stopped, and she turned to the police officers passed out on the ground. She looked up back at the Inves and to her disbelief, it got back up again. Seeing that there's no time to wake up the police squad to get up, she decided to risk it and picked up her bat from the ground to fight it once more.

Korra stepped forward and pointed her metal weapon towards the Inves, and the recovered Naga walked up by her side, ready to do the same, "Ready to do this girl?" she asked her loyal companion, and she barked in response.

It was then, Kouta and Mai arrived at the scene running down the streets leading to Town Square. After hearing the screech sound the Lizard Inves made, they followed it until they skid to a halt and hid behind a mailbox. From there, they saw the Lizard Inves in front of Korra and Naga, along with Chief Takatsukasa and her police officers down.

"Korra..." Kouta whispered in worry to see her facing an Inves with a metal bat. She doesn't stand a chance against the Inves with it alone even with Naga's help.

"There really is another Inves!" Mai exclaimed in shock and hid behind Kouta, to think that she would see two different kind of Inves in one day. And her face turned to concern to see her mother on the ground, "Mom...!"

Kouta then brought out his Orange Lockseed and looked to his Sengoku Driver, "Mai, I'll handle the Inves, and when I get its attention, go help your mom up and get out of here." Kouta instructed.

Mai nodded, "Okay."

Kouta ran up ahead and brought up his Lockseed, "Henshin!" he shouted and clicked it.

"**Orange!" **

Still running, the large metal orange sphere came out of the zipper portal and floated over his head. He inserted his Lockseed into his belt and locked it.

"**Lock On!"**

The belt played its Sengoku horn tune with techno music and Kouta sliced the Lockseed.

"**Soiya!"**

The orange dropped on his head and the blue bodysuit materialized over him and the orange sphere dropped and formed on him, transforming him into Armored Rider Gaim.

"**Orange Arms! Hanamichi On Stage!"**

From there, Gaim tossed his Daidaimaru from his right hand to his left and drew out his Musou Saber with his right. He loaded his Musou Saber and shot at the Inves, hitting on target with sparks flying out of its right side, and one of the shots hit its wounded shoulder.

"Leave her alone!" Gaim yelled as he slashed down the staggered Lizard Inves with both of his swords and sparks flew out of it.

Korra and Naga were taken aback, surprised by the armored rider's appearance.

Seeing Gaim keeping the Inves busy, this was Mai's chance to help her mother, "Mom!" she shouted as she ran up to her, got on her knees, placed her hands on her shoulders, and shook her a bit, "Mom, wake up."

Lin was stirred in her nap by her daughter's voice, "Mai-chan?" she asked as she slowly opened her eyes, "Why are you here?" while she is glad to see her daughter safe and sound, she shouldn't be here right now, what with the monster around terrorizing Town Square.

"Never mind that, let's get you out of here." Mai said as she lifted her mother up by the arm and draped it around her neck. But grew concerned when her mother gave a groan and clutched onto her head with her free hand, "Mom, are you okay?"

Her mother nodded, "I'm fine." Lin assured her, "Just a splitting headache." she couldn't remember the last time she had a headache, this painful.

Korra turned away from the fight, went over to the two Takatsukasas, and decided to help, "I'll help you." she said, offering her assistance as she draped the older woman's other arm around her neck.

Mai gave her a grateful nod, "Thank you."

"I can walk." Lin said softly, and the two girls let her go. She gained her balance a bit and stood up straight, but stumbled and was about to fall down, until Mai and Korra caught her with the former still clutching onto her head, "You shouldn't be here, you should hide somewhere that's safe."

"Well _your _safety comes first!" Mai barked and she and Korra draped her arms around their necks again. Naga walked up to them and laid down to help the chief of police rest on her as they placed her on the side of her.

Lin blinked slowly twice by her daughter's outburst before she chuckled under her breath, "Just like her mother." she said, relaxing on the left side of the polar bear dog.

Mai grew a tick mark on her head and snapped, "Don't compare me to you!" but it made her mother stifled a laugh, making Mai's tick mark grew larger, "And don't laugh!"

Korra, oblivious to the two argue, glanced at the battle between the armored samurai and the Inves.

Gaim and the Lizard Inves are exchanging each other's attacks, the rider blocked its vertical swipe with Daidaimaru and parried off the horizontal one with Musou Saber. The rider was about to cut horizontally across its stomach, but it dodged and brought its leg up to kick, but it was blocked by both weapons. Seeing the rider block its kick, the Inves brought its claws up and slashed him down with sparks flying out of his chest making him stagger. But he immediately recovered as he pulled the ring on his Musou Saber and shot at it with sparks flying out, staggering it in pain. It then turned to the girls, who are watching the battle and was about to attack them, but Gaim blocked its path by jumping in front of it with great strength and clashed his blades against its claws.

"If you want them, then you're gonna have to go through me." Gaim declared. But hat he didn't notice was that it used its tail to snake its way around Gaim's leg and trip him up to bring him down, flat on his back on the ground.

Korra blinked at the voice she heard from him under that mask. It couldn't be.

"Kouta!" Mai exclaimed in worry, to see him brought down by the Inves and grabbed its head and tried to push it back after it jumped on him and opened its mouth with sharp teeth. It's as if he's trying to keep a tiger-monkey from eating him.

Korra blinked again in surprise and asked, "Wait, that armored guy is Kouta?"

Mai's eyes snapped open and looked at the girl, "You know Kouta?" and got a nod in response.

"Yeah, we just met just yesterday." Korra responded.

"Kazuraba-kun?" Lin asked slowly, confused, seeing him wear samurai armor, "Where did he get that armor from?"

"It's from that belt and the Lockseed he's wearing." Mai commented, getting even more confused look from the older woman.

"What do you mean?" Lin asked.

Korra slowly understood at what she meant, and she looked to her belt to see it stopped glowing before she turned to the fight.

Back with the rider and the Inves, Gaim punched the lizard's face twice, staggering it a bit and pushed it off with his feet and it skidded to its feet. Gaim stood up slowly while panting and sweat pouring down on his face inside of his helmet. This wasn't like the fight against the Byakko Inves, in fact this thing was more tougher than that. But more to the point, he was tired from fighting the said Inves earlier.

'That fight with the Inves from earlier took a toll on me.' Gaim mentally noted before he turned to the girls, 'But if I don't keep this up, Mai, Korra, Naga, and Chief Taktsukasa will get hurt.'

The Lizard Inves jumped back onto its feet and charged at him with its left claw, but Gaim blocked it with Daidaimaru and blocked the other with the Musou Saber. And the rider was being pushed back by its strength, with his feet skidding until he pushed it back with his strength.

'I guess I better finish this early.' Gaim thought, he combined both of his blades again into his naginata and was about to unlock his Lockseed to put it in his porthole. But the Lizard Inves had other plans, it ran off to a lane, hoping to lead him somewhere, "Get back here!" and Gaim pursued chased.

Korra saw them running, she had a feeling that Kouta might be able to defeat the Inves after the damage it took. But she had a bad feeling that it might no doubt use that screech attack again, and her eyes widen in realization. He doesn't know.

"Naga, stay here and guard them." she ordered her polar bear dog and ran off.

"Hey, where are you going?!" Mai demanded, seeing Korra running back to where Kouta and the Inves are going. She was about to stop her, but her foot was caught by her mother's grip, and Mai glanced at her mother, still leaning her back on Naga and giving her a look of disapproval.

"Follow her, and you're grounded for life young lady." Chief Takatsukasa said in a stern tone. She maybe an over-caring mother and allow her daughter to do what she wants, but she would never allow her to follow the face of danger. And she still has some fight in her even when she's down.

"Ah, mou~!" Mai complained with a pout as she crossed her arms. It wasn't fair. So she sat down next to her, and leaned her back on Naga like a sofa. The polar bear dog then nuzzled the girl's face in comfort and Mai petted her head, "Even though you hardly know me, you get me."

As Mai petted Naga's head, she saw something at the corner of her eye and her eyes widen in shock. She saw someone lying on the floor unconscious around the corner. Micchy! "Micchy!" she shouted as she got up and ran to him, followed by her mother who just recovered and Naga.

Mai got down, picked him up in her arms, and shook him a bit, "Micchy, speak to me! Are you okay?" but she got no response. He was breathing, meaning that he's okay, but he was stirred up from his slumber and slowly opened his eyes to see Mai.

"Mai-san..." Micchy said in a slur before he fell asleep again.

'He's probably knocked out by the high-pitched screech attack from that Inves from earlier.' Lin noted mentally. That screech can probably put a city district to rest easily. "You stay with him, I'll go help my officers." Mai nodded and Lin went back to her officers.

And while Korra was running to help Kouta, she looked at her belt. After hearing what Mai said when Kouta got that armor on from his belt and Lockseed, maybe she can do the same from hers.

* * *

**Zawame City's park**

In the middle of a park, everyone was running away from the battle between Gaim and the Lizard Inves.

"Take this!" Kouta yelled as he slashed the Inves across the chest and send it slamming into a tree.

"Kouta!" Korra shouted and Gaim turned to her before he turned back to the recovered Inves.

"What are you doing here?! Get out of here!" Gaim demanded as he back flipped, dodging its swipe attacks and blocked both claws with his naginata.

"I forgot to tell you that you should watch out for its sonic wave screech!" Korra told him, confusing him.

"Huh?" Gaim asked, still locking horns on the Inves before it opened its mouth and the rider froze, realizing what she meant, "Uh-oh!"

It screeched point-blank at his face, making him scream in pain with his ears being pierced by its sound wave attack. He stepped back, dropped his weapon to shield his ears and screamed from the screeching sound wave. From there while it's still screeching, it slashed its claws onto Gaim's chest, and kicked him in the stomach to stagger him to make him fall on his back on the grass. The Inves didn't waste time as it ran over to the rider to stomp its foot on the his stomach and grind it like it was squishing a bug.

Seeing Kouta being overpowered by the Inves with its screech attack and foot on his chest, Korra had to do something. She found her solution as she spotted Gaim's naginata weapon right behind it and she ran over to it. And so the dark-skinned girl picked it up with both hands while enduring and ignoring the screech the Inves is making.

Just when its about to stomp on Gaim again, Korra yelled, "Leave him alone!" she charged at the monster and stabbed the weapon to the right side of its stomach. Its screech attack was interrupted as it snarled in pain right before Korra jumped and back flipped in time when it tried to hit her from behind.

Gaim, now recovered, kipped back up to his feet and ran to the creature, ramming it with his shoulder and it was shoved into the Park's pond.

"Get out of here! This is dangerous." Gaim said to her, "You should run while you have the chance." he slowly took a fighting stance to attack the Inves again.

"No way." Korra replied firmly, "I don't know why, but I'm not just gonna leave you here with this beast. After all, for some reason, I think it was my fault that I brought this thing back to our world."

"What?" Gaim asked in confusion, she brought it here from the portal?

"I brought it to this world, and I can either help you kill it, or send it back." Korra explained, "And I've already decided to help you out, you know."

Gaim was baffled, "What?! You can't just decide that!"

"I just did." Korra replied casually as she tossed back his weapon back to him, "And I _can_ help you. Just look at what I'm wearing." she pointed to her belt with the Sunflower Lockseed still in it, surprising the rider.

"What? Why do you have one?!" Gaim demanded incredulously.

And then, it did something unexpected. It shone like light blinding them both and they both shielded their eyes from the light. After the light died down, it transformed from an ancient relic to a brand new modernized version of the Sengoku Driver like Gaim's. It was no longer made out of stone, it has no moss to it, no small cracks, no rust on the knife-like lever, and the blank side of her belt no longer has a slash mark on it. Instead, it was replaced with a faceplate on it, an armored face with an aqua blue wolf-like helmet with white linings and a ponytail, a steel mouthpiece, and a white visor. But unlike with the rider's belt, its color is blue and had white linings instead of black and yellow linings. **(****9)**

Gaim was shocked to see it transformed, "That's...!"

'Okay, now I _really _didn't see _that_ one coming!' Korra thought in both shock and awe, still couldn't comprehend at what just happened. And what really caught her eye was that the Sunflower Lockseed that was in the porthole was no longer there. It was just gone. It was almost as if the belt wanted her to use the Lockseeds and place it in the porthole, and the Lockseed had fulfilled its purpose and restored the Sengoku Driver back to its original state.

But they were interrupted when the Inves rose up from the water and it charged at Gaim before he raised his naginata weapon to block both of its claws.

"Never mind! Just leave! I can handle this thing on my own!" Gaim ordered and he blocked both of its swipe attacks once more and pushed it back before slashing it down it chest.

"What?" Korra asked indignantly, irritated by what he's saying. Are you kidding me? She came here to save him, and now he wants her to leave just like that? Screw that! She came here to help him, and that's what she's going to do. She had to take responsibility into her own hands after all.

As if he read her mind, Gaim continued, "Don't worry! Even if you did bring it back to our world, it's not like you brought it here on purpose. I'll be fine, so just go!" he kicked it before he was slashed in the arm.

Korra looked enraged, "No!" she retorted snappishly, "All my life, I have been taken care of the people I care about and have them tell me what I should and shouldn't do. Because of it, I can't make decisions on my own." she pulled out the premature Lockseed and it changed into a blue watermelon Lockseed, with the imprint 'LS-WATER' on it. It was now known as the Water Lockseed, "Well no more! I don't want anyone to clean up my mess or fight my own battles." she remembered the times when she first bumped into him and when he repaid her back with that rice ball even though Naga ate it. But it's the thought that counts.

"You're a good person Kouta, and you don't have to fight alone anymore! There are some fights that need to be fought and taken care of not alone!" Korra yelled as she held up her Water Lockseed, "Henshin!" she shouted and unlocked it.

**"Water!"**

Like with Gaim, a large zipper portal appeared above her head and opened up, revealing a metal watermelon which was strangely sapphire blue with metal studs on it. And there seems to be three lines of water snaking around it, making it look like an atom. Korra plugged her Blue Watermelon Lockseed into her driver and locked it.

**"Lock**** On!"**

It played a tribunal drums sound along with an upbeat whimsical flute going along with the tune. **(10)** She slowly took a Tai Chi stance as she motioned her arms spreading out, leaned forward, right knee bent, left leg stretching away from her right, and she circled her arms halfway to form a circle before she brought down her right arm and slapped the knife-like lever to slice her Lockseed. The inside of her sliced Water Lockseed was white with watermelon seeds in it, and there's a picture of an Inuit spear with a sliced white watermelon with bandages wrapped around the bottom of the fruit.

**"****Element!"**

Korra stood up straight with her arms still spread out as the sapphire watermelon fell on her head with the water surrounding it was splashed on her body. A light blue bodysuit with white linings materialized on her body. And a gauntlet with a porthole for Lockseeds was on her left arm. Energy surged out of from the sapphire fruit and to her body and coated her a sky blue kimono-like tunic armor.

"**Water Arms! Element of Change!"**

Korra glanced around inside the fruit before a helmet formed around her head, with two gray compound eyes visor, a ponytail, and a silver mouthpiece. A sapphire wolf-like helmet landed on her head and her visors changed from gray to white. The sapphire watermelon then dropped and formed, with the sides brought down in the form of shoulder pads and chest armor, making it looked like an Eskimo coat, only with short sleeves but no hoodie. And she wields the weapon from the picture of her Lockseed. Korra Nozomi is now Kamen Rider Avatar or Armored Rider Avatar, she wields the Mizuspear **(****7)** and the Bending Gauntlet, **(8)** and she can use the element water.

Avatar looked down at her herself, "Whoa, that was kinda cool." she commented before she looking back at Gaim standing there while gawking in shocking disbelief to see her transform like he did. And the watermelon rider composed herself, "So, you want my help now?" she asked as she spun her spear once and tapped the bottom to the ground.

"I don't believe it." Gaim said in shock to himself before he ducked in time when the Lizard Inves tried to sneak attack on him, and it bit him on the shoulder, "Ow! Ow! Ow! Hey, let go!"

"Hey, leave him alone!" Avatar yelled as she charged at the Inves to stab and slash at, making it let go and stumble backwards, staggering it in pain. She then jumped up high to threw her spear like a javelin at its head, and as it made contact, sparks fly about. And she dove in, extending her leg to a flying side kick and kicked the Inves, sending it flying and until it tumbled and sliding on the grass.

"Wow." Gaim said in awe to see her beat the Inves with such skills, and despite knowing her for a short time, he can tell that she's a great fighter.

Avatar ran to pick up her Mizuspear and ran back up to orange rider again after dealing with the Inves for a short while, "So I'll ask again, you want my help now?" she asked in a friendly tone and held out her hand to seal the deal. After seeing what she can do, he's gotta let her help.

Gaim nodded, "Alright, you can help." he said, and he shook her hand, "Let's get along."

Avatar nodded back, _"Of course. _Of course."she replied with the first 'Of course.' in English.

It didn't take long for the Lizard Inves to recover as it stood up, now furious as it growled and glared at the two riders with fury.

"Oh, look who's back." Avatar said casually in amusement.

"Yeah." Gaim said mirroring her tone, not worried. With the two of them, they can defeat the Lizard Inves easily. Although they might want to think twice on that as it opened its mouth to use its sonic wave screech again.

"Oh no you don't!" Avatar exclaimed as she threw her spear at its mouth where sparks flew out, making it cried and growled in pain and stepped back, "I am sick and tired of those sonic wave screech attacks!"

Gaim gave a battlecry and charged ahead at the Inves to slash it across the chest with his nagitana, pulled the Mizuspear out of its mouth, and tossed it back to Avatar as she ran by his side.

They both stood there for a moment, and in unison, Gaim and Avatar both slashed their weapons in the air vertically and horizontally, thrust them forward, spun them like windmills from left to right, and slammed them to the ground, trying to intimidate the Inves.

"Let's do this." Gaim declared.

"Right behind you." Avatar followed.

And they both charged at the Lizard Inves again with battlecries, and it got up again before it was slashed down by their weapons once more. Gaim was the first to slash it across its stomach followed by Avatar who slashed its chest. But it was ready to fight back as it swatted away the orange rider's incoming attack and scratched him across the chest, kicked away Avatar's low slash attack and used its tail to pull away her spear along with her and slammed her to the ground.

"Oh wow, that kinda smarts." Avatar groaned painfully and got up slowly using her spear to pick herself up as support.

"Korra! Are you okay?" Gaim asked in concern and helped her up.

"I'm fine." Korra said before she charged at the Inves again, "But he won't be!" she thrust her spear at the monster, but it dodged the attack and slashed her in the arm and chest, and kicked her making her stumble back.

The Inves then used its tail again to tie up Gaim and slammed him into one tree and to another. But it didn't expect Avatar to jump on its back to punch it in the head three times before it released Gaim and threw Korra off its back with the riders fall to the ground.

Both riders slowly got up and dropped their weapons aside and balled their fists to use hand to hand combat against the Lizard Inves. Gaim was the first to strike as he punched it to the face and Avatar jumped and kicked its back. And in unison again, they both simultaneously kicked it in the stomach and punched it in the face sending it to fly and crash to the ground again.

"Let's finish this." Gaim said and got a nod in response from Avatar, he placed his hand on the knife-like lever on his belt with Avatar following him. And they both pushed the levers once.

"**Soiya/Element!"**

"**Orange/Water Squash!"**

"The finisher!" Avatar yelled as she and Gaim both jumped up and flipped in the air, and they both simultaneously extended their legs into flying side kicks with water and energy surging throughout the water rider's kick and orange energy flowing in the orange rider's.

"Seiha!" Gaim yelled, the two kicked through the Lizard Inves in the chest with one half an orange and a half blue watermelon surrounding it. And electricity flowed throughout the monster, fell to the ground and exploded, with orange and white watermelon slices flying about from the creature.

The two riders did not look back as they folded up their Lockseed slices and changed back to Kouta and Korra. The former was panting softly and has some bruises and fatigue on his face, no doubt from fighting two Inves in one day, but had some help with the second one from Korra. And he turned to the dark-skinned girl, who looked at him, both have mirrored smiles on their faces.

"_Yeah! Whoo!" _Korra cheered in English and raised her arms, _"We did it!"_

"Yosha!" Kouta cheered in his native language and draped his arm around her neck, "We did it Korra! We did it!"

Korra did the same, "We sure did Kouta!"

Their celebration ended early however as they both looked at each other, they blushed as they realized in what they're doing, and they both let go. There was another awkward moment between the two, but they put that situation aside and shook their hands.

"Thank you for helping me and saving my life back there Korra." Kouta said to her with a grateful smile.

"Hey, I'm just glad I could help." Korra answered and smiled back.

As they let go, Kouta said, "Let's go back to the others."

Korra nodded, "Yeah, they're probably worried about us by now. Especially Naga." and the two ran off to where the others are.

As they ran, Korra brought out her Water Lockseed from her belt to look at it in fascination, 'Hmm, you know, I think this may have given me a purpose in life.' she thought, remembering when she transformed into her armored form. It was pretty cool.

* * *

**Mysterious Forest**

Back with Zangetsu and Shin, they were at the location of the forest to where Korra and Naga were after they found the ancient Sengoku Driver. The spy looked at the dug up hole in shock and disbelief. From reading the scene and understanding what's going on, it appears that Shin stole the Sengoku Driver from them and he hid it in the dirt where no one can find it. And now it's gone.

Zangetsu pointed his Musou Saber to Shin's face, "You lied to us." he said in a cold tone.

"No! I-I swear, it was here when I buried it!" Shin said and stepped back when Zangetsu stepped forward, "You have to believe me! I buried it right around here from last ni-!"

**SLAM! **The spy was interrupted after the rider slammed the hilt of his sword to his stomach after he spun it, and he doubled over in pain and fell to the ground. Shin coughed and groaned in pain as he laid there, the pain was much worst than being shot in the arm.

"_That_ was our only belt." Zangetsu stated in a threatening matter and he spun his sword back to point the blade back to his face, "The only source to help us produce the Sengoku Drivers Yggdrasil can make. The only thing that mankind needs when-" he was interrupted when a phone rang, and the rider turned to one of the foot soldiers who picked up his phone. The soldier rushed to Zangetsu's side and placed it near his head to where his ear might be.

"What is it now Ryoma?" Zangetsu asked impatiently, he hated being interrupted in the middle of work.

"_I believe our __employee __Kinoaki-san__ is telling the truth."_ a calm voice called Ryoma said through the phone.

Zangetsu paused when he heard that, "What?" he asked, it was hard to tell what his expression is under his mask.

"_I said he's telling the truth, __it's no longer with him.__"_ Ryoma continued, _"One of our cameras have __picked __up a__ young lady riding on a polar bear dog _with_ the belt __around__ her waist."_

Zangetsu stiffened for a second before he composed himself and turned to Shin, "I see, then we need to retrieve it as soon as possible. Who knows what she'll do with it."

"_No need to rush it." _Ryoma said, unconcerned about the belt being taken,_ "Take all the time you need, she might be an excellent test subject along with the other one who just recently came in this afternoon."_

"Either way, that belt is coming off of her, even if I have to rip it off from her cold dead body." Zangetsu declared in his cold tone, and the soldier ended the call.

"Sir, what do we do with him?" another foot soldier asked, gesturing to Shin.

Zangetsu slowly turned his head to the spy and ordered, "Lock him up."

"What?!" Shin exclaimed in shock before two soldiers quickly grabbed him by the arms, "No! Please! Wait!"

"He knows too much, and he should be lucky that we're letting him live until we decide what to do with him. No one can know about this forest, not our employees or anyone outside of Yggdrasil." he walked away before he thought, 'Not even my little brother. Not yet at least.' he turned back to his troops, "If he runs, don't hesitate to shoot him." and he walked off

"Yes sir!" the soldiers responded with a salute, and they all escorted him through the forest.

"Please! Let me go! I-I can help! I can track down whoever took the belt, and-!" Shin didn't finish as he was doubled over twice by one of the soldier's end of the gun in the face and the other in the gut, knocking him unconscious.

"Just stay quiet until we bring you to your new home." one suggested, and they dragged him to where he will be held somewhere in Yggdrasil. It seems to be that there's more to Korra's belt than meets the eye.

* * *

**Next time on Kamen Rider Gaim/Avatar**

**Chapter 3: Deadly! Pineapple Kick!**

"Beware, for you are taking a part of destiny in your hands." 'Mai' spoke to Korra.

"I brought a guest!" Kouta said, introducing Korra to her sister.

"Neechan, I've transformed!" Kouta said excitedly.

"In the end, the only thing you can rely on is strength alone." Kaito stated coldly.

'If I use it to protect everyone, then I'm sure...'

"**Pine Arms! Funsai Destroy!" **Gaim is now in Pine Arms form.

* * *

**Well what do you think? Pretty neat huh? I've decided to put the relationship between Kouta and Korra like Luffy and Zoro at first before they fall in love. For Naga, I've decided to let her help with Korra against the Inves, I mean she is pretty strong you know. And I know it seems kinda unfair for Korra to fight dirty against **Qiáng**, but he's bigger than her and she doesn't know bending in this story. And what is Zangetsu up to? Anyway, I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting, but it's here isn't it? And like I said, I'm going to focus on my first story and study for exams next week. Ciao!**

* * *

**List of References: **

**(1) Kinoaki Shin**\- **H****e is based off of the protester in Legend of Korra, I've decided to give him a name and make him a spy in the story. And why is he called Kinoaki Shin you ask? It's because those names are based off of Japanese spies in the 1900s. **

**(2) Triple Threat Triad- A criminal organization consists of benders in Legend of Korra, led by Lightning Bolt Zolt.**

**(3) Viper- One of the leaders of the Triple Threat Triad.**

**(4) Two-toed Ping- based on the members of the triad, I've decided to give him a smart and wise guy personality, and in the end made him a coward. Ha!**

**(5) Qiáng- Nobody gave him a name yet, so I've decided to give him one. **Qiáng means strength in Chinese.****

****(6) Mr. Chung- the elderly man who works in a music shop. Now runs an antique store in this story.****

****(7) Mizuspear- I've decided to change the name on Avatar's weapon.****

****(8) Bending Gauntlet- Secret!****

****(9) Water Lockseed and Avatar's Sengoku Driver- I've decided to change from Blue Watermelon Lockseed to Water Lockseed. Why, because it kinda sound complicated to say the first whole word. And for Avatar's Sengoku Driver, it needed some 'nutrients' from the Sunflower Lockseeds, that's why I gave Korra a couple of them in the last chapter.****

****(10) Avatar's Sengoku Driver tune- For that I thought maybe it could use an Inuit tribunal drums and a flute with it. I'm sure you're all cool with that.****


	3. Deadly! Pineapple Kick!

**Okay, last chapter was a total bust, and I only got 2 reviews for a little while, until recently I got another. And I know why. It's because from one of my recent reviewers, Hellbreaker told me that the Korra fanbase hasn't acknowledged the existence of the Kamen Rider series. But hey nobody's perfect. I suppose I'll have to accept that and I'll use some martial arts from the animated series and Tokusatsu style.**

**PS: I'm sorry for not uploading this chapter on Thanksgiving or not finishing this chapter earlier. The truth is my flash drive made out of recyclables melted by the heat of my laptop that had the one document of this chapter I half-finished in it, and I had to start from scratch all over again for I don't know how many days I worked on this. I had to buy a non-recyclable one as a replacement.**

**So without further ado, please enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kamen Rider Gaim or Legend of Korra**

* * *

**Chapter 3: **Deadly! Pineapple Kick!****

**Mysterious Forest**

Back in the mysterious forest where the Inves live in, researchers wearing green hazmat suits with Yggdrasil logos on their backs are studying the fruits, but mainly the ones on a tree where Korra plucked her Water Lockseed from. And they all wore Sengoku Drivers around their waists, but the difference between them and Kouta and Korra's was that they have no knife levers or faceplates. One of the researchers plucked one fruit off the tree and it transformed into a Lockseed with an image of a white lychee fruit on it, and it has the imprint 'LS-AIR.' This is the Air Lockseed.

Suddenly, a couple of researchers were attacked by an Elementary Inves, and two more came out scaring taking them by surprise. They all dropped what they were doing while one was recording with his camcorder as he ran backwards while being chased.

As an Inves was about to attack one of the hazmat suit users after he fell, Zangetsu's shield, Melon Defender flew in spinning out of nowhere like a boomerang and attacking them, knocking them on the ground. From the shadows, Zangetsu charged towards the monsters with an aura of cold malice towards the Inves as he caught his shield. He slashed one down mercilessly and went for another until they all collapse and exploded.

The researchers approached the rider, thanking him, but Zangetsu didn't bother glance back at them for a moment until he turned his head to look back calmly. He was still enraged at the fact that his former employee, Jin, took their belt and have some girl took it right under his nose. And what better way to blow off some steam by taking out a couple of Inves?

"Hmph..." was Zangetsu's response. And just when he was about to leave, something glinted at the corner of his eye. He looked down to see the Air Lockseed and picked it up to look at it with interest, "Hmm..."

* * *

**(The scene now zipped to reveal the opening)**

**(Insert OP: Just Live More by Gaim no Kaze)**

(The opening begins with Kamen Rider Gaim, Baron, Ryugen, and Zangetsu in their battle stance with a fence behind their backs with locks. They were then switched by Gaim with Avatar, Baron with Mulan, Ryugen with Nuktuk, and Zangetsu with Masamune. And the camera now focusing on Avatar switching to Gaim who readied his sword.)

**Got it, Move...Wow,  
**(Helheim's vines diminished as they reveal the four elements, earth, fire, air, and water. They were cut down by slashes until the title of the series reveals itself.)**  
Kamen Rider Gaim and Avatar**

**Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!  
Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!  
**(We cut to the eight riders in a room full of samurai armor as they took their pose. The scene shifted to Gaim in an empty world while he held out his Musou Saber with Kouta's reflection under him, holding his sword of course.)**  
Sabaibaru! You got move. Gendai wa sanagara Sengoku  
Survival! You got move. The present day is just like the Sengoku period.**

(Kouta ran towards the screen, but stopped when a fence with locks blocked his path. He then sees his double in front of him, holding a Lockseed, and he calls out to him. But he and the fence immediately turned into stone, then to dust and blown away by the wind as the other Kouta simply walked away.)

**Dare ga kachinukeru? Kagi wa hirake rarete shimatta!**

**Who will win? The lock has been opened!  
**(We take the next scene to Team Baron, with Kaito leading in front of Zack, and Peco, who are dancing in front of a building. We shift to Kouta and Kaito, who looked at each other with Lockseeds in their hands. Kouta holding his Orange Lockseed and Kaito holding his Banana Lockseed. Below them is their reflection in their rider forms, Kamen rider Gaim and Kamen Rider Baron, who darted towards each other to fight. We shift to Korra, Asami, Mako, and Bolin who had their backs turned to each other and took their battle stance, and their reflections replaced by their rider counterparts Avatar, Mulan, Masamune, and Nuktuk did the same, only with their weapons in their hands.)

**Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!**

**Doko ni aru?**

**Where is it?**

**Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!**

(We shift back to Gaim and Baron's fight, and in their reflection Kouta and Kaito were in some kind of hand-wrestle with their lockseeds in their hands. We go to Micchy, who picked up his Budou Lockseed and saw his older brother, Takatora, holding his Melon Lockseed. And their Rider counterparts are in their reflections. He ran towards him, but like with Kouta, a fence with locks blocked his path before Takatora looked behind to see his younger brother and Zangetsu held his Musou Saber near Ryugen's neck.)**  
Do tsukau, kindan no kajitsu?!  
How shall it be used, that forbidden fruit?!**

**(**Back in the room where the riders posed, one by one appeared from Gaim to Avatar. We go to Gaim in Suika Arms only to go gyro mode, and Baron, drove right past him on Rose Attacker. And the next scene shows the characters Henshin with their Sengoku Drivers in order, from Zangetsu to Masamune, Ryugen, Nuktuk, Baron, Mulan, Avatar, and Gaim.) **  
`Ima' to iu kaze wa nani o tsutaeru tame? [Omae no moto ni fuku? Tsuyoku Tsuyoku! Blowin' up!]**

**What is the wind of the moment trying to say? [Is it blowing to you? Get stronger, much stronger! Blowin' up!]**

(Gaim drew his Musou Saber to battle, and he slashed an inves with his hybrid weapon across the stomach. Next we go to Team Gaim dancing in front of their headquarters, then we go to Team Fire Ferrets headquarters with the team doing their dance, and the same goes to Mulan. The cameras then shifts focus on Kouta, Mai, Micchy, Korra, Mako, Bolin, and Asami dancing. And we go to Kouta greeting Mai and their reflections show Kaito with the Priestess of Fate, who looks like Mai.)**  
**(We go to Zangetsu who aims his Musou Saber at the screen with an army of pinecone samurai themed riders behind him holding spears. Next we have Kamen Rider Gaim with Avatar slashing down the pinecone themed riders while Baron and Mulan did the same in Gaim and Avatar's reflection.)

**Ashita ga yume ga mada mienakute mo [Soko genkai? Seiippai ikite iru to ierunara?]**

**Even if you can't dream of the future [Is that your limit? Can you say you're living without your might?]  
(**In a forest, Kamen Rider Ryugen shoots down a fence blocking his path and ran forward and we go back to Team Gaim/Fire Ferrets/Mulan in a three way split screen who finished their dance, disappeared. And we focus on Gaim's outside headquarters to be replaced by the Priestess of Fate, who points towards the screen.)**  
**(Next we focus on Gaim's arms, Lockseed, and Daidaimaru to the floor, and we focus back to Gaim slicing down to the screen with the pinecone riders standing behind him.)

**Utsumuku na yo... [Kao agero!] Doko madede mo... [Mageru koto naku!]**

**Don't look down... [Lift up your face!] No matter where you are... [Don't become twisted!]  
**(We shift to Banana arms with the Banana Lockseed and Banaspear, then to Team Baron finishing their dance, and we go to Kamen Rider Baron slashing down inves in the mysterious forest with his banaspear and finished with a pose. Next we shift to Starfruit Arms with the Starfruit Lockseed and Starfruit Saber, Budou Arms with the Grape Lockseed and Budou Ryuhou, Melon Arms with the Melon Lockseed and the Melon Defender, Fire Arms with the Fire Chili Pepper Lockseed and Hiegashimaru, Earth Arms with the Earth Coconut Lockseed and Tsuchui, and Water Arms with the Water Watermelon Lockseed and Mizuspear.)

**Shinjita michi o yuke, JUST LIVE MORE!  
Follow the path you believe in, Just Live More!**

(All eight riders are back to back with each other, swinging and aiming their weapons towards the screen. We next go to Kouta who ran towards the fence of locks, screaming until the premature Lockseed fruits and plants grew around him.)

**Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!**

(Finally, we see Kamen Rider Gaim riding on his horse to battle along with Avatar riding on Naga by his side.)

* * *

**Kazuraba's Residence**

Kouta, Korra, and Naga are now standing before the entrance of the former's home.

"Thanks for inviting me and Naga over to dinner Kouta." Korra said as the raven-haired rider unlocked his entrance, "But you really didn't have to, you know."

Kouta looked back with a smile and said, "I know, but this is considered thanks for saving me back then."

Korra's face softened when she heard him thanking him. She remembered when she and Koura fought the Inves together even though he was reluctant to help at first. And even though they just met recently, she couldn't help but feel that they're friends for a long time.

* * *

****_FLASHBACK_****

_After the two riders finished off the Lizard Inves, Kouta and Korra ran back to the fountain where Mai, Naga, Lin, Micchy and her two officers are. __And __two of the police__ officers __that were attacked by the Inves __were put on stretchers, rolled__ out of the __shop, __into an ambulance and drove off__._

_Kouta and Korra ran to the chief of police __and the former was about to explain to her what happened._

"Don't_ worry __about it Kazuraba-kun." Lin assured him, "__Mai-__chan already__ explained __to me about what__ happened __earlier. __And I am g__rateful __to you for __protecting __my__ daughter __again__ in __a selfless act." __After what happened today, she'd be crazy to doub__t __her daughter. __And she turned to Korra,__ "__And __I thank you young lady.__ Chung-san __and Kureshima-kun__ told me about how you tried to save two of my officers earlier and took them into the shop __before you were about to heroically lead the monster away from here. __It's too bad we couldn't find the culprit who beat them silly before we did and did this much damage to the public.__"_

_Korra blinked __and said__, "Huh? But I-" __she then looked at the elderly man who gave a pleading look, __shaking his head, and __waving his hands frantically. And Micchy __crossed his arms in an X, telling her that __they're__ trying to cover for her when they were about to take her away for taking down the thugs,__ "O-Of course! Sure, yeah. __There's no need to thank me. __And uh, good luck in finding the idiot who did this much damage.__" she mouthed a thank you to the man __and Beat Rider__ and __t__he__y both__ gave happy nod__s__._

"_Chung-san, you can go home now. __And don't worry about your shop, the police department will cover the damages.__" Lin said to the elder and he nodded __and left__. __Even a__fter going through with the Triple Threat Triads and the Lizard Inves, __business will go smoothly again what with the damages being covered. __He __will __have__ a good night's rest__ to __forget__ all that __ha__s happened._

_And she turned to Micchy with a neutral look, "Kureshima-kun, you may go home as well."__t__he __young man nodded as well and left.__"I suppose I'll have to come up with something to cover this incident up."_

_Mai then placed her hand on her mother's shoulder, __"__Don't worry Mom. For what it's worth, you and your officers caught three members of the Triple Threat Triad. I think that's something Zawame's Police Force should be proud of." __Korra frowned at her words. The police force kind of came__ late and weren't doing a good job cleaning up the streets in Zawame City __if the triads had been coming around here to bother the elderly man__._

_Lin smiled and nodded. Hearing her daughter praise her in a good day's work is something that made the woman proud of, __"__A__s long as no one was hurt, then that's all that matters." __she__ said, and __it was her turn to place her hand on her __daughter__'s shoulder__, "__And d__on't worry Mai-chan, I'll go __investigate in finding your friend Sumii Yuuya-kun __with these two __and__ investigate __that__ mysterious portal __you and Kazuraba-kun went through__. __Until then, __go back to your friend__s__ and __keep practicing your__ danc__e skills__. __But don't stay out too late, you're father will worry.__" **(1)** she __then leaned into her ear to whisper, "__And e__ven if __Team __Baron did take your stage, you shouldn't let that loss get to you. Just be patient, and when the time is right, go and take back what's rightfully yours." she pulled away to see her daughter gain a look of determination and nodded._

_The two Takatsukasas__ walked off __in opposite directions with__ two __of __the chief's__ officers __behind her__._

_**FLASHBACK ended**_

* * *

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry you weren't able to find your friend." Korra apologized sympathetically.

Kouta shook his head and gave a smile, "Don't worry! Like I said, Yuuya's plenty of strong. He wouldn't be team leader of Gaim for nothing."

Korra nodded as she remembered Kouta told her about being a former Beat Rider of Team Gaim and that she met Mai and Micchy for being Beat Riders as well. Kouta told her that the reason why he quit the team is that he's working part-time and learn what it means to be an adult. Which is something that's understandable to her.

"So, you ready to eat some of Neechan's cooking?" Kouta asked as he placed his hand on the doorknob, ready to open it.

Korra nodded, "Yeah." truth be told, she was a bit excited to have some home cooking. She then turned to Naga, sniffing the air, smelling something that's good.

Kouta opened the door and walked in first, "I'm home!" he said as he took off his shoes followed by Korra and Naga with the dark-skinned girl taking off hers.

"Welcome back!" Akira called while stirring the pot, "You're pretty late you know."

"Neechan, I brought a guest!" Kouta said as Korra walked in and he introduced her.

Akira sighed and looked back at him, "Kouta, I wish you would call me earlier before..." she trailed off as she looked to Naga standing in front of her, panting happily.

"Oh, uh, I had no idea that our guest would be a polar bear dog." Akira said awkwardly, and a nervous smile was present on her face, "Nice to meet you." she slowly reached her hand out to pet her head, but didn't expect the creature was going to do next.

Korra's eyes widen to see Naga jump on her, "Naga no!" but it was too late, she jumped up to the older Kazuraba to do something that she did to Kouta before.

**SLURP! **Naga licked Akira's face in a friendly matter with dog slobber all over her.

Akira groaned out in disgust, "Friendly, isn't she?" she asked slowly, a bit disgusted after being 'kissed' on the face by her guest. And Korra and Kouta ran up to their large canine friend to pull her by the collar and away from the elder Kazuraba.

"Neechan, I'm sorry!" Kouta apologized with a small bow.

"I'm very sorry!" Korra too apologized with a bow and she glared at her friend with disapproval, "Naga, we don't lick our hosts!" Naga lowered her head in shame to hear her long time friend scold her.

Akira reached for a cloth to wipe the slobber off her face.

Kouta coughed into his hand, "Neechan, this is Korra." he said, finally introducing his friend to his sister.

Korra smiled and gave a polite bow, "Hello. My name is Nozomi Korra, it is a pleasure to meet you."

Akira stopped wiping her face for a moment to stare at the girl, looking a bit startled by her name, but mainly her surname, 'Nozomi?' her face grew thoughtful as if she just remembered something before it turned serious and she crossed her arms.

Korra looked up a bit to see the older Kazuraba giving her a look of disapproval and looked back down again, "I'm very sorry about my friend here." she apologized again, followed by her friend who lowered her head in shame, very sorry about what she did.

Akira's expression softened a little before she broke out in a smile, "It's fine, as long as you're friends of Kouta, you're our guests in our home." and her face turned serious again, "But if your polar bear dog pulls another stunt like that again, she's eating outside!" she pointed to the balcony of their apartment.

Korra nodded, "You have my word, Naga won't pull anything stupid like that again." she declared and turned to her friend, "Right Na... ga...?" she trailed off to find her friend up to the kitchen's stove to smell something from the pot, "Naga, no! That's not for you to eat!" she ran up to her and wrapped her arms around the neck and pulled.

"Ah! What are you doing?!" Akira shrieked as she and Kouta ran up to the beast and wrapped their arms around her neck to pull her way. But like yesterday when she sniffed the curry, she wouldn't budge. And she even stuck her tongue out to taste it, but couldn't get a taste.

"Naga! No! We don't eat before dinner!" Korra exclaimed forcefully before she realized she can command her to sit down, "Naga! Sit!"

After getting Naga to stop trying to eat the nikujaga, Kouta was resting on the table while drinking a cup of water, Naga was sitting on the floor, behaving like the good polar bear dog she is, and Korra was on the floor on her knees and bowed before the elder Kazuraba.

"I'm really really sorry!" Korra apologized again with her head so low, it was touching the ground.

Akira looked at her with crossed arms before she sighed with a smile, "It's fine. But I will give you one more chance though." she then look to Kouta, "You sure made an interesting friend Kouta." her smile turned rather sly, "Is she your girlfriend?"

Kouta spat out water he was drinking while Korra's eyes widen in shock. They both blushed furiously and responded, "She's/I'm not my/his girlfriend!"

Akira laughed and went back to stirring her pot.

Korra shook her head and gave a face palm, she guessed that this was payback for letting Naga lick her face and try to eat their food. Well she supposed that she deserved it.

Deciding to change the subject, Kouta said, "Oh yeah. Neechan, I just transformed today!" he got up from his seat and brought out his Sengoku Driver, "I did. I really did." he walked to his room.

Korra gave an unsure look at Kouta. Is it really wise of him to blurt out something like that to his sister? Even if they are siblings, she thinks it's unwise to say something about him transforming into that armored form he just did earlier. Then again, she was somewhat in the same boat as him.

Akira on the other hand looked at her brother skeptically before shrugging it off and poured beef and potatoes to a bowl.

**"**Orange!"****

Korra heard the Lockseed Kouta activated earlier and thought, 'He's not...'

Akira looked up to Kouta's room with a confused look to hear another voice in there and walked over to the doorway.

**"**Soiya! Orange Arms! Hanamichi On Stage!"****

"Hey!" Akira called out before knocking on his door, "Kouta?"

"Uh, Akira-san, I don't think you should..." Korra said before she trailed off when she opened the door to see Kouta in his armored form while looking at the mirror to touch his headpiece.

Gaim noticed his sister and Korra and walked over to them, "See?" Gaim asked before he jerked a thumb to himself, "What do you think?"

Akira was speechless, unable to say or what to think of as she looked at him from bottom to top.

Korra was a bit shocked to see him show his transformed form to his sister, and in his own house at that.

Akira then smiled awkwardly, "We're having nikujaga for dinner." she said and she slowly closed the door before Gaim gave them a thumbs-up.

After Kouta reverted back to his normal form, he sat at the dinner table with Korra and Naga by his side. While Akira sat across the group, mainly way from the polar bear dog, not wanting to sit anywhere near her.

"So Korra, are you from another country or did you actually grew up here in Japan?" Akira asked the young girl.

"I'm from Canada, actually." Korra corrected, "Although I do admit about how people see me as a foreigner."

"You speak Japanese very well!" Akira said, impressed by her fluent in the Japanese language.

"Well my grandfather is Japanese, and my father is half Japanese, and they taught me how to speak the language. In fact, my father once grew up here in Zawame City, Japan before he moved to Canada." she picked up a potato with her chopsticks and ate it before her eyes widen. And her face turned softened with a dreamy smile, "Mmm, umai!"

Akira smiled by her praise, "That's good." she said with her face softened as she looked at the girl, "So, what did you come to Japan for?"

"Neechan!" Kouta scolded her for pestering the girl with questions.

"No, it's okay Kouta." Korra assured him, not minding to answer her, "In all my life, I was taken care of the people who took care of me, having no need of money, and I'm here for a good education. And my father told me that if I want to find a goal, then I need to work hard. With every step I take, I'll be able to find my destiny one day without people telling me what to do. And as long as I keep on walking, I'll be able to get there someday."

Akira's smile never left her face, "What is your father's name?"

"Nozomi Tonraq." Korra answered.

* * *

****With Korra and Naga****

Korra and Naga were walking back to their apartment through the streets while the former was rubbing her stomach and sighing contently. After they ate dinner, they got to know the Kazuraba siblings, Akira is an employee at Yggdrasil and Kouta works at Punjabi's curry restaurant and at a construction site.

"Ah, what a meal." Korra said happily.

**BARK!** Naga barked in agreement and Korra laughed, "I know, I know. You can't help but eat a lot whenever you're with me for dinner." she couldn't help but think how delicious the nikujaga was, and that she and her canine friend practically at the whole pot.

She then brought out the Sengoku Driver in her hands, "And I suppose I should be thankful that I found this belt in the forest." she traced her finger on the faceplate. Thinking back, without this belt, she wouldn't have helped Kouta defeat the Inves.

Suddenly...

"Beware, for you are taking a part of destiny in your hands." a familiar voice called to Korra and she and Naga looked behind to see 'Mai' with strawberry blonde hair and wearing white clothing.

Naga barked happily as she ran up to her and nuzzled her head on her stomach affectionately, and 'Mai' simply petted her head.

Korra squinted her eyes before they widen in recognition and asked, "Wait, aren't you that girl I met earlier? Mai, was it?"

Instead of answering, 'Mai' pointed her finger at her Sengoku Driver and said, "Once you take the path with that, there will be no point of return. An ordeal will welcome you to a battle to the bitter end."

Korra stared at the girl for a second, not knowing what's going on. But look to her Sengoku Driver, seeing where she's going with this and responded, "Maybe. But even so, I don't want to astray from my path. And like I said before, even if it is impossible, with every step I take and the progress I work hard on, I'll be able to find my goal one day."

**'**Mai' looked at her sadly before she gave Naga one more stroke to her head and turned to walk away before she slowly faded away before their eyes.

Korra looked in stunned awe to see 'Mai' disappear before her eyes before Naga ran up to her and the former jumped on her back to go back home. "What was that, just now?"

* * *

**Back to Kazuraba's Residence**

After Korra and Naga left, Kouta went back in his room to try and find the right henshin poses right before he turned into his armored form.

"**Soiya! Orange Arms! Hanamichi On Stage!"**

"Kouta! Go to bed!" Akira shouted angrily shouted through the door, getting irritated by hearing his transformation after 28 times all night.

Gaim then jumped jumped and laid his back on the bed before he looked to his Musou Saber questionably and asked, "So, what the heck am I supposed to do with this?"

* * *

****Next day at Punjabi's****

Kouta walked into the curry restaurant to start working.

"Owner, I'm here." Kouta said, greeting his boss.

The owner wore a red cap and a long-sleeve yellow shirt with Punjabi's logo on it.

"Oh, Kouta, good timing. Sorry, but we've got a delivery today." Owner said, preparing more food.

"Sure." was Kouta's response before he gained a look of determination, "Owner, I'm feeling a bit different today." he walked over to the orders to take it to the moped.

And Owner looked at the young man skeptically, "Huh?"

Kouta placed the curry in the carrier of his moped and he placed his Sengoku Driver on his waist with a cheesy happy look on his face before he took a pose with the Orange Lockseed in his hand.

"Henshin!"

He clicked the Lockseed and it shouted.

**"Orange!"**

And the young man inserted it in his belt before locking it.

**"Lock On!"**

It played the Sengoku horn tune to it with Kouta listening to the beat for a second. And ignoring bystanders looking at the metal orange over his head after it came out of the zipper portal, he sliced the Lockseed,****"Soiya!"****

**"******Orange Arms! Hanamichi On Stage!" ****Kouta turned into Gaim with the people gawking in disbelief and awe to see him turn into his armored form.

"Yosh!" Gaim said as he entered his vehicle before hitting the ceiling of it, "Ow!" he struggled to get in, and after a few tries, he finally got in before his head hit the ceiling. And just when he positioned himself, the motorcycle wobbled a bit before it fell to the left, with Gaim in it.

This caught the owner's attention as he walked outside to see Gaim in the motorcycle. And he didn't recognize him as Kouta as he angrily demanded, "Ah, what are you doing you idiot?!"

"Ow." Gaim groaned out, trying to get out of the motorcycle, but had his headpiece stuck, "Ow. Ow."

"Huh?" Owner asked, recognizing the voice, "Kouta?" Why is he wearing samurai armor?

"Ow." Gaim groaned in pain and requested, "I'm sorry, but could you give me a hand? Ow. I'm really sorry about this!"

* * *

****Construction Site****

After Owner told him to go home early, Kouta was working at the construction site in his uniform where he was preparing paints to bring it up to his co-workers.

"Hey, Kouta!" his superior shouted from above on top of the scaffolding, "Can you bring those paint cans up here?"

Kouta's face brightened as he got up and responded, "Sure! I'm feeling a bit different today, Boss!"

"Oh?" his boss asked, thinking that he's in the mood to show some spirit or something. And Kouta placed his belt on his waist again and had his signature cheesy face again and unlocked his Lockseed.

**"**Orange!" ****

The metal orange came out of the zipper portal, surprising his boss and his co-workers coming out of nowhere.

"Henshin!" Kouta shouted.

****"Lock On!" ****

They all gawked at Kouta's transformation as he picked up two cans of paint his boss want.

"Yosh!" Gaim said with enthusiasm and looked up before he jumped up with his strength on the top of the scaffolding.

He made the jump, but instead, the whole thing shook from the landing, making a few workers fell on their bottoms, while one grabbed another, who was about to fall off.

"Boss? Senpai?" Gaim asked looking around, failing to notice that he kicked off a paint can off the scaffolding and onto one worker who was about to go up and fall off. Thankfully, he wasn't far off from going all the way to the top and hit the ground.

Gaim looked around before registering the mistake he made and said, "Whoops."

* * *

****Park****

After his boss and co-workers told him to go home early, Kouta sighed in a depressing matter while walking through the park. He was hoping that he would make things better if he were to transform, but instead, it just made things worse.

It was then, he stopped to hear a boy crying and he ran towards the sound until he saw a boy stuck in a tree, "Mommy!"

"Hey, what's wrong boy?" Kouta asked the young boy.

"I climbed up this tree, but now I can't get down!" was the boy's answer as he wiped some tears away in his eyes.

Thinking that this might be his last chance to help by transforming, Kouta said, "Say no more! I'll come and save you!" he brought out his Sengoku Driver again and placed it on his waist and reached into his pockets to find that his Orange Lockseed is missing, "Huh?" he looked into his shirt pocket to find it, "That's weird. Where did I put it?" Little did he know was that it was hanging on his bag.

"Where did it go?"

Little did he know was that a person passed by him and approached the boy, "You won't get anywhere by crying young one!" Kouta looked to the voice and recognized the young man from before. Kumon Kaito, leader of Team Baron.

"So what'll it be, boy?" Kaito asked him, "Will you jump down? Or perhaps, you prefer to stay up there all day?!"

"Whoa there..." Kouta said, trying to reason with him.

The boy stopped crying as he decided on what to do. Take his word for it, or wait until someone else comes for him? And he made his decision as he jumped off before Kaito ran up to catch him in his arms.

Kaito looked at him with approval and said, "A wise choice. For someone so young, you're pretty strong." and he let him down.

"That's a tad extreme." Kouta said in exasperation. And Kaito looked at him for a second before looking back at the boy.

Kaito advised him, "Don't forget, young one. In the end, the only thing that you can rely on..." he pounded his chest to where his heart is, "Is your strength and strength alone."

The boy nodded, "Yeah! Thank you, Oniichan!"

Kaito nodded and walked off.

* * *

****5 minutes later****

As Kouta kept on walking and was about to reach into the shopping district, a large shadow soared over him and he looked up to see a large bison with six legs with three toes on each leg, pointy horns, a flat manatee-like tail, brown eyes, shaggy white fur, and a brown stripe that runs along its back from tail-tip to its forehead, where it terminates in an arrowhead. This is Oogi**(2)**, a Sky Bison that resides on a Buddhist temple island in the city.

"Oogi?" Kouta asked slowly and skeptically, not sure if it's him or not, but on top of the bison is a woman in her thirties.

She had green eyes, wavy, light brown hair, drawn back in a center parting with both parts of her hair hanging loosely in front of her forehead. And she wore a red and yellow robe, and what really caught his attention was her swollen stomach, telling him that she's pregnant. Her name is Kusakabe Pema, she is the wife of the head monk **(5)** of Zawame City's Buddhist Temple and mother of three, soon to be four. And she's Mai's aunt, her father's sister. **(3) (4)**

"Hello, Kouta-kun!" Pema greeted happily with a wave, "How long has it been?"

"Pema-san." Kouta said before he realized who he's talking to and gave a quick bow, "Oh, uh, hello Pema-san! It's probably been a while. I think."

Pema chuckled, "There's no need for formalities, Kouta-kun. We're practically family after all." it was true, she had known Kouta and his sister and was friends with his family for as long as she could remember.

"So, how is the path to adulthood been going with you lately?"

Kouta lowered his a head a bit before he answered, "Well... How do I put this...?" was all he could say before he took a deep breath to explain. He began by telling her of how he found the belt in a strange forest and uses it to 'transform.' He didn't want to tell her the details about turning into his armored samurai form, because she's pregnant and any excitement or a simple startle might endanger the baby in some way. And he told her about what happened at work today and that things didn't go well. And he even told her about trying to get a boy down from a tree before Kumon Kaito showed up and told him to jump off before catching him.

From there, they were both on a bench with Oogi behind them. And Pema sighed in exasperation and disappointment, "Oh, honestly, pulling a stunt like that. What would happen if he _didn't_ catch him?"

"Now, now, calm down Pema-san." Kouta said, trying to calm her down, "Even if it was reckless, it all worked out in the end."

Pema sighed again, "I suppose." she couldn't argue with that. But pulling a stunt like telling the boy to jump off a tree and catch him was too dangerous. And she paid her attention to Kouta, "Anyway, I'm sorry to hear about what happened at your jobs."

Kouta brought out his Sengoku Driver and passed it to her, "To be honest, it was a total failure." he said as the older woman took it off his hands and observed the device, "And I thought that maybe I could do something cool with it too."

Pema passed it back to him, "Don't give up hope Kouta-kun. I'm sure you'll find something useful for it in some way." she assured him with an encouraging smile.

"I guess." was Kouta's answer before he heard his cell phone ring and he picked it up, "Hello?"

It was Mai, _"Hey, Kouta. Have you heard or seen Yuuya since that incident?"_

Kouta raised a confused a brow and answered, "No. Didn't your mother try to find him last night?"

"_She did. She even called _all_ of her officers to find him all night, but found nothing. Yuuya didn't even return home last night." _Now Kouta was worried, _"He didn't even appeared at the garage either."_

"Seriously?"

* * *

**Warehouses**

Pema and Kouta arrived on Oogi to meet up with Mai. From there, Mai was surprised to see Kouta next to her her aunt and on the flying bison.

"Hello Mai-chan!" Pema greeted her niece.

"Pema-obasan?" Mai asked slowly, "What are you and Oogi doing here?"

"Oh, I'm just here to drop off Kouta-kun here." she said letting the young man jump off the bison and landed on the ground, "Just so you know, we're having dinner tomorrow. I've already invited your mother and father, and they say they're coming. And you're invited too. I'm sure your cousins**(6)** will be happy to see you again. Especially Ikki-chan." she said the last part with a smile.

Mai froze when she heard that, "Oh, uh, great. My cousins." she said slowly with her face slowly becoming pale. But she shook it off and forced a smile, "Uh, I mean, that's great! I can't wait to see them again!" she paled again and held onto her hair, "Just as long as they don't touch my hair again." she tried to mentally block out a horrible memory.

Pema's smile turned sympathetic, "Don't worry, your uncle and Jinora-chan will keep them out of your hair. Literally." she said to him and turned to Kouta, "You're invited too Kouta-kun."

Kouta blinked and pointed at himself, "Me?"

Pema nodded, "Oh yes. In fact, I've already invited your sister this morning. And she said she will come." she mushed the reigns on Oogi and flew off, "Until then, I'll see you both tomorrow!"

Kouta and Mai waved at the woman as she flew off before the former looked at the latter with a raised brow, "Hey, you're not still scared of Meelo-kun or Ikki-chan, are you?"

Mai snapped her head in his direction and exclaimed, "What?! Of course not! No! Why would you say that?" she raised her hands up defensively, but the former Beat Rider can tell that she's lying, "Anyway, we should go to where the portal was."

Kouta nodded, "Yeah."

They finally arrived to where they found the zipper portal to where it leads to the Inves forest, only to find it gone, along with the mysterious plants.

"Somehow, it's different from yesterday." Kouta began, remembering that there _was _indeed a portal.

"You don't think we dreamed all of that, did we?" Mai asked slowly.

"That can't be." Kouta argued, pulling out his Orange Lockseed from his bag and looked at it.

"But Mom told me that when she and her force got there, they found nothing." Mai explained, "And they've searched all night trying to find it." and she gave a thought, "What if, Yuuya never made it out of that weird forest?" and she became frantically worried, "Or maybe, he was attacked by that monster and..."

"Hey don't think like that!" Kouta interrupted, trying to assure her, "This is Yuuya we're talking about! I'm sure he's fine. He can be pretty strong-headed when he wants to be. After all, this isn't the first time he went off on his own, right?"

But Mai thought otherwise, "But the team's in a crisis!" she pointed out, "He'd never disappear at a time like this!" and something crossed her mind, "Oh yeah. That belt you picked up in the weird forest, was Yuuya's. He said that would be the team's ace in the hole."

"He said that?" Kouta asked.

"Hey, you'd better give it back." Mai continued, "There's no point in you having it Kouta."

"Okay." Kouta complied with a nod, and he took out the belt buckle and handed it to her.

She took it in her hands and placed it on her waist, but unlike with Kouta and Korra, nothing happened.

"Huh?" Mai asked, confused to see nothing happened.

"That's odd." Kouta said as he took it off her hands, "You do it like this." he placed it on his waist and the yellow belt formed right out.

"What's going on?" Mai asked, confused to see why it was working on him.

"Let's go ask the lock dealer." Kouta suggested, "He's most likely at Bandou-san's parlor." and they both walked off.

Little did they know was that they were being spied on by a man coming out a van, wearing a black suit and carrying a camcorder. He was from Yggdrasil.

* * *

**Drupers**

Kouta and Mai arrived at the fruit parlor to ask Sid on what's the deal on the belt.

"Ah. You mean the Sengoku Driver, huh?" Sid asked before he took a bit out of a slice pineapple, "That can only be used by the first person who puts it on."

"Huh?" Mai gawked.

Sid fiddled with a charm on his suitcase, "Yuuya sure was a fool." he said with a sigh, "I sold him a fine product. And he let someone else put it on first." he looked back at her and asked, "Are you also a Gaim member, young lady?"

"Yes." Mai answered.

"It must be pretty hard with Baron eyeing your territory." Sid said with pity, "How about I sell you some Lockseeds since you can't use the Driver?"

"You'd do that?" Mai asked rather eagerly.

Sid looked into his iPad to select some Lockseeds, "Zack from Baron, has at least a couple of Class C locks." he stated, "And if you want to fight him on equal grounds, you'll need at least a C+ or B Lockseeds." he scanned through some locks to find a perfect recommendation for her, "In any case..." he picked the one with a picture of a pineapple and the imprint, 'LS-05' and showed it to her, "I recommend this."

"And..." he pulled it back to tap something and showed them the price, "This is the price."

"Whoa..." Kouta let out.

And Mai looked a bit devastated, "Impossible! I can't afford that!"

Sid then pointed out, "Hold on now. Aren't you the Chief of Police's daughter, Takatsukasa Mai?"

"I am, but..." Mai struggled to say, but said it, "Nowadays, my family is kinda strict on money."

Kouta patted her shoulder in sympathy, understanding her pain. Even if she did ask her mother for money, she wouldn't allow her to spend it in one place, let alone the Inves Games. And they couldn't ask Asami for a loan either, she's their friend and their sister at that.

As they got up and left, Mai looked back, and Kouta looked at her thinking that she might do something stupid before he dragged her out.

* * *

**Gaim's old stage**

At Gaim's old stage, Kaito was leading his team through dancing in sync. People were cheering for them as they danced their performance. Among the crowd was Asami and her Beat Rider team, Team Mulan, looking at Team Baron with great disapproval and bitter looks. They wore a variety of hip hop clothing with matching red, black and gray, not wanting to match Team Baron's color at that.

Next to Asami was a young girl with tanned skin, emerald eyes, brown chin-length hair, and wore a red red tank top with her belly exposed, a white jean jacket, gray sweat pants, and black and white sneakers. Her name is Opal**(7)**, Team Mulan's second-in-command, no one really knew about her or her past, but all they know was that she is loyal to the team and Asami. And that's all that matters to them.

Speaking of which, the leader glanced at her second-in-command, glaring at the Baron members dancing, mainly to the team leader's right hand man, Zack. She felt uneasy to see her this way, to see her with cold anger and... hatred? Either she didn't like the way Baron was showing off, or the fact that they did something to tick her off. It may have been both.

And just when Team Baron was about to bring the finale to their dance, a group of guys wearing black and yellow clothing and wearing leather jackets jumped up on the stage, interrupting their dance. This is the Beat Rider group, Team Raid Wild, and their leader is a young man with wild black hair, Hase Ryuji.

The crowd was complaining that another Beat Rider team interrupted Baron's. It was bad enough that it had to happened again from before.

"How about putting aside your lame dancing and give us your stage, Baron-san?" Hase asked cockily.

"Raid Wild!" Zack recognized as he stepped forward to challenge them on the team's behalf, but Kaito stopped him.

"You talk big, but do you have the strength to back those words up?" Kaito asked rhetorically, "In short, do you have the strength to face us in battle?"

"Let's find out." Hase said, bringing out a Sunflower Lockseed. And they all jumped off the stage while the crowd was clearing out, giving the opposing teams room for the Inves battle.

They've both brought out the yellow force field with Hase unlocking his Lockseed to bring forth a green elementary Inves.

Kaito brought out _three _Lockseeds, two Sunflower and one had a picture of a walnut with the imprint 'LS-02.'

"Three at once?!" Hase demanded in disbelief. One Lockseed maybe one thing, but two or three is a different story.

Kaito didn't answer as he unlocked each of the Lockseeds to bring forth three elementary Inves. Two red and one blue.

"**Battle Start!"**

The fight began between the four Inves, but since Baron had the numbers, they have the advantage. What started out good for the green Inves is that it hit the blue one by a slap to the face and a couple of more punches. Raid Wild cheered on for their Inves, but Baron did the same.

Everyone else was cheering to see the Inves duke it out on one another, like the audience in the Colosseum of Rome, cheering on for the gladiators to shed blood to one another.

"Kill him!"

"Crush him!"

"Hit him with a rock!"

Nobody bothered to pay any attention to that last remark as they were busy watching the fight, and Baron were cheering on for Kaito's Inves' beating up Hase's.

"Go on! Go get em!" Peco shouted out.

"Let him have it!" Zack encouraged.

And soon, the three Inves gained the advantage by attacking it at the same time until they pushed the green one down with one red finishing it off with a drop kick, thus ending their battle.

Raid Wild were startled that they lost, no surprise there.

"Yeah baby!" Peco shouted in a cheer, happy for their victory.

"Alright!" Zack cheered.

"**You win!"**

Kaito and his team stepped forward and said, "It looks like we'll be the ones who'll be talking big today." Hase looked away for a moment, "Begone, loser dog!"

Hase looked furious as he and his team walked off and left in a huff.

"Quite the brilliant, yet brutal strategy, Kaito." Asami said as she and Team Mulan stepped forward to face Team Baron. Anticipation filled the air as both teams stood across each other, giving each other looks of determination and seriousness. It's as if another Inves Game is about to commence.

The crowd began to murmur.

"It's Team Mulan!"

"Are they going to have another Inves Game?"

"Shh, let's wait and see."

"Team Mulan." Kaito said, recognizing the all-girl team, "I figured you would be here."

Asami arched a brow, "Why? Is it because you saw us among the crowd?"

Kaito smirked, "No. It's because we danced on Gaim's old stage." he knew about the relationship between Gaim and Mulan, and that Asami was friends with two members of the team.

Opal gave a small glare to Baron's second-in-command, Zack, in which he returned with his own.

"So I take it that you're here to challenge us to an Inves Game to take back Gaim's old stage?" Kaito questioned.

"Actually, it's more of an observation to see what you can do in an Inves fight. Besides, it's more up to Gaim's call on whether if they want us to take it back for them or not." Asami explained, "And I hear that Team Wolfbats are eyeing our territory lately and wanting to fight us. And we'd like to save our strength to fight them first."

Kaito crossed his arms, "So I hear."

Asami then frowned, "And as for your tactic you used earlier, I can't say that I'm impressed. But rather, I disapprove of it by using three Inves to fight your battles instead of one. One would hardly find it fair in a fair fight."

"All's fair in love and war." Kaito stated, "And in war, you can only rely on strength to win. Whether it's numbers, knowledge, morality, strategy, skills, and even brute force. They're all considered skills of strength."

Asami's eyes narrowed and said, "Then the next time we meet..."

"We'll see who is stronger." Kaito said finishing her sentence.

The two locked onto each others' eyes intensely for a second, almost like they're staring at each other for an eternity.

And Asami broke the silence by turning around and walked away, "Let's go team." and they all followed with Asami in the lead. Little did they know was that Opal was the only one stayed behind as she continued glaring at Baron's second-in-command.

"While we take on Team Wolfbats, you'd better remember about what you and your little friend did to take Gaim's stage." Opal warned in a cold tone.

Zack cocked a brow, "Huh? Did you say something?"

Opal didn't answer as she walked up to him, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, and gave him a cold glare, "I said to remember it... _Cheater._" she hissed quietly so that no one, not even Kaito could hear them. She'd rather have their leader find out about their little trick than to rat them out.

Zack stiffened as Peco's eyes widen in shock. She _knew. _And it would only be a matter of time until everyone find out if they're not careful.

"Opal, let's go." Asami called, and the young girl let go of Zack's shirt and ran off to join the others.

As they walked away, one of Gaim's fan complained, "Aw man. If Baron keeps this up, then no one will be able to beat them."

And his girlfriend pointed out, "But you know, Gaim was using this stage up till yesterday. And I was so looking forward to seeing them dance again."

"Shh!" the guy hissed, not wanting Baron to listen in on their conversation.

"I just think that Gaim's dancing is way better." they didn't realize that Kaito was walking in on their talk.

"Not so loud, they'll hear us!" and it was too late, they noticed Baron's leader and left. Kaito then turned back to his team.

"Rude jerks, just where do they get off?" Zack complained with a growl.

"Next to the baby group Fire Ferrets, Gaim is the _loser_ group." Peco added before he turned to Zack, "Right?" and he got a nod in return.

"But they're strong in their own way." Kaito pointed out, "And we decide on who's strong or not." He paused before adding, "And frankly... the weak are beneath us. All they can do sniffle like toddlers when you hit them once." Kaito walked off with Zack and Peco giving each other a handshake before they follow along with the rest of the team.

* * *

****With Kouta****

In the city, Kouta spent all afternoon looking for Yuuya, but had no luck in finding him. The police are searching all over the city to find him as well.

After spending over half a day searching, Kouta finally sat down on the side of the street.

He gave out a tired sigh, "Yuuya..." he then laid his back down and rested his head on his hands in comfort, "Where on earth did you go?!" it was then his cell phone rang and Kouta picked it up, "Hello? Oh, Micchy? What's up?"

"_Kouta-san, we need your help." _Micchy said over the phone, _"Th__ose__ Baron Jerks are at our garage."_

Kouta got up and asked, "What?!" he picked up his stuff and left in a hurry.

"_They demanded us to hand over our team's Player Pass." _Micchy furthered explained.

* * *

**Gaim's Garage**

At Gaim's headquarters, the four members of Gaim are being confronted by Team Baron's Kaito, Zack, and Peco with the latter swinging on the swing and the second-in-command checking out the car. And needless to say, Team Gaim aren't happy at what they're proposing.

"This isn't funny!" Mai snapped at the leader, "Just who do you think you are?!"

"I'm not saying you should hand it over immediately." Kaito said calmly, "I said let's duel for it." Team Gaim looked at him skeptically, "If you win, then we'll give back the west stage to you. And as a bonus..." he reached into his pocket to pull out the Pineapple Lockseed, "We'll throw in this Class A Lockseed. It's not a bad deal if you think about it, right?"

He had them there, but there's also a catch.

"And the way I see it, Gaim is in the dumps according to the rankings." he continued, "But this may be your last chance to redeem yourselves."

And Chucky thought otherwise, "But if we lose our Player Pass, we'll no longer be able to dance on this city's stages-"

"That's the point!" Kaito interrupted making her stop, "There will be no place for weaklings. To be honest, a pack of loser dogs shouldn't be considered a team in the first place."

Mai gave them a fierce look. No way in hell was she going to back off, and like her mother said, she shouldn't back off and let these guys do as they please. You either die trying or live to see yourself fail.

"If I were you guys, I'd disband the team without a second thought." Zack advised.

Rat looked down to the floor, "No way..."

Kaito got up and approached the female Gaim member, "So then, what will it be?" he questioned, "Do you have the strength to take on all of us to protect your land?"

The members just stood there in silence, not knowing what to say.

"Or rather, do you guys even have any Lockseed to begin with?" Peco questioned further.

Zack grew a cocky smirk and taunted, "Well, if you have the guts to take _on _the Inves, then step right up." his smirk widened as his eyes focused on Mai, "Or maybe, you'd rather call your mommy, the chief of police and let her do the fighting for you. _Mama's girl."_ The invading team laughed hysterically and cruelly at that.

Mai simply stood there while shaking angrily. How dare they bring her mother into this? Just because she's not strong or doesn't know how to fight, doesn't mean she's helpless. And if Kouta, Asami or her mother were here, then they wouldn't allow them to get away with calling her names like that. No, they wouldn't allow _anyone_ to disrespect her.

Suddenly, the front door burst open and in came Kouta followed by Micchy and the former proclaimed, "Well I've got a Lockseed for you!"

Mai and the others turned to him, "Kouta!"

Kaito recognized him from before, "So it's you."

Kouta and Micchy walked down the stairs to confront Baron's team leader with a look of determination and the former held out the Strawberry Lockseed in front him.

Kaito and his two members were taken aback as they looked at the Lockseed in Kouta's hand.

"An A Class Lock?" Kaito asked in surprise, eyeing the said Lockseed before turning at the former Beat Rider, "Impossible. Just who the hell are you?!"

"I'll fight you on their behalf." Kouta declared, "That won't be a problem, right?"

* * *

**Later in the city**

Everyone has gathered around the two Beat Rider Teams, Gaim and Baron to see them battle in and Inves Game. Grownups, students, business men, employees dropping at what they're doing in their jobs, and even the elderly eager to see the opposing teams in battle.

Among the crowd was Korra with Naga by her side, watching both teams getting ready to fight and was eager to see who will win. This is her first time seeing an Inves Game up close live instead of watching it on TV or online. And what really surprised her was that Kouta is fighting in Gaim's place, she thought that he quit the team and working, but nevertheless, she came here to see the battle between Beat Rider Teams.

Kouta began, "Just to be clear, if I win, then Baron will leave the west stage, and give Gaim their Lockseed. Am I right?"

And Kaito clarified, "And if you lose, Gaim will hand over their Player Pass and disband. In any case, you'd better be ready to lose."

Mai was about to step forward and use Kouta's Lockseed to fight them, but Micchy stopped her.

"Mai-san! We should leave this to Kouta-san." Micchy advised.

Zack walked up to Peco and nodded his head to him and the light brunette nodded in return and walked off. Kaito and Kouta opened their Lockssed to summon their Inves.

Kaito summoned the three Inves that fought Hase's Inves before and Kouta summoned one that is _human-sized_ which looks like a deer. It's color and designs are a brown body with a blue and yellow armor, and its antlers are the same as well. Given that the Strawberry Lockseed is A Class, there was no surprise. This is the Shika Inves.

"What?" Zack gawked at the beast's size.

Kaito looked impressed by it, "Just what I need. A challenge." he locked his Lockseeds to start the game. Kouta looked back at Mai and Micchy who gave him smiles of encouragement, telling him that he's got it in the bag, and he locked his Lockseed to start as well.

Korra also smiled excitedly to see Gaim get the upper hand as she and the crowd began to cheer for Gaim to give it their all. This is going to be exciting.

"**Battle Start!"**

The fight began as the Shika Inves made its first move by throwing a spin kick, but the small Inves dodged its attack and before they know it, they all ganged up on it by jumping. But the Shika Inves tossed them off like flies and it attacked two of them with its antlers, finishing them off, leaving one alone.

"Yeah!" Chucky cheered.

"Woo-hoo!" along with Rica.

"Alright!" Rat exclaimed.

"Yay!" Mai and Micchy cheered as well as they both gave each other high fives.

"Yeah ha ha!" Kouta shouted out with his friends.

"Yeah! Woo-hoo!" Korra cheered as well, hugging Naga by the neck. Team Gaim is gonna win! "Way to go Kouta!" she shouted to him getting his attention and he gave a wave at her and she returned it with her own.

Team Baron looked shocked, especially Kaito, "Impossible!" And as Team Gaim were celebrating their early victory, Peco readied his slingshot and aimed for the Strawberry Lockseed in Kouta's hand.

"Loser dog." Peco mocked before shooting and hit Kouta's hand, causing him to drop his Lockseed.

By then, the Shika Inves was no longer in control as it looked at the crowd with a murderous intention.

Kouta looked at the Inves in worry before it broke free and materialized, running towards the crowd and they ran away. The former Beat Rider looked to his Lockseed as it was kicked away by a bystander and he went after it. Mai looked at the scene, which looked very familiar to her.

"Just like that time." she said aloud.

As the Inves was attacking people, Kaito approached the laughing member, Peco with irritation and disappointment.

"You weasel!" Kaito snapped, grabbing his wrist that held his slingshot, "Is this what you considered strength, using dirty tricks?!"

Peco gave a sheepish smile and squeaked out, "Well, you see..." he didn't get to finish as Kaito snatched it from his hand.

"This is childish and meaningless!" he snapped it in half like a twig before he turned to Zack who gaze away, unable to look at him in the eyes and telling him that he was a part of it too. And Mai looked at the Baron members, while the Shika Inves was still attacking everyone in its way.

Kouta tried to dive in to catch his Lockseed, but it was still being kicked around like a ball, and he looked to the Inves attacking both teams.

But Korra and Naga intervened as they both attacked the Inves with the young girl kicking it in the chest and Naga biting it by the arm. But like with the Lizard Inves, it threw the Polar Bear Dog off like a pest and struck the girl's face and kicked her stomach sending her tumbling to the ground.

"Korra!" Kouta shouted before he brought out his Sengoku Driver, 'That's right. I couldn't properly use this. Because I was using this for my own gain.' remembering the times he had throughout his part-time jobs, he can understand how irresponsible he was.

He then remembered Pema's words.

"_Don't give up hope Kouta-kun. I'm sure you'll find something useful for it in some way."_

'But, if I use this to protect everyone, then maybe...' he didn't bother to finish his sentence as he placed it on his waist and brought out his Orange Lockseed before he struck a pose.

"Henshin!"

"**Orange!"**

The zipper portal appeared over his head with the metallic orange sphere coming out of it. Kouta then shifted his upper body to the left, then right, and back to the center to raise his Lockseed high in the air. And he placed the Lockseed in the porthole in his drive before slamming the lock in place.

"**Lock On!"**

The Shika Inves released its grip on a Baron member as the Sengoku tune caught its attention as well as both teams. And Kouta sliced his Lockseed.

"**Soiya!" **the Orange Lockseed glowed a bright orange, transforming Kouta into Gaim with his armor on.

"**Orange Arms! Hanamichi On Stage!**

The orange sphere unfolded into armor and revealed Gaim's helmet. After the transformation, Gaim tossed his Daidaimaru in his left hand and drew out his Musou Saber.

"It's go time!" Gaim exclaimed and he charged in to make the first move.

Naga approached the unconscious Korra and nuzzled her with her nose to wake her up, and Korra slowly opened her eyes and slowly got up to see the Inves dodge the rider's slash attack before it swiped its claws at him, but the rider blocked its attacks before kicking it in the stomach. It used its antlers to charge, but Gaim blocked it just in time before he was being pushed.

They stopped before Gaim pushed it off and slashed it on the chest and on the back.

Gaim then loaded his Musou Saber before he blocked an incoming attack before shooting at it in the right flank of its stomach and shot out some more. He then gave one last slash, sending it flying to the ground and rolled over.

Korra slowly stood up with the help of Naga and she looked around to see people panicking, and looking back at the fight between the Gaim and the Inves, the rider can handle it. The people's safety comes first.

"Everyone! Get out of here!" Korra shouted to them, and she helped a man up by the grab of his shoulder, "You'd better get out of here!" and the man nodded as he and the rest of the crowd ran with Korra evacuating them immediately, "Run! This is not part of the Inves Game! Just run and hide somewhere to safety!"

The Inves then spotted the Strawberry Lockseed and went over to it before it shoved one bystander out of the way to Gaim where he caught him.

"Are you okay?" Gaim asked before letting the person go. He spotted the Inves to pick up the Strawberry Lockseed and a sideway mouth formed and opened on its forehead before it consumed it, "Huh?"

Suddenly, flames lit around the Shika Inves' body before it grew twice from the consumption of the Strawberry Lockseed. It's upper body grew larger which made it look like a bodybuilder, or a gorilla even. Its shoulder crests grew wider as well, making it look like wings, and its antlers grew out in the size of trees, making it look like an actual deer. After it transformed into the Evolved Shika Inves, it gave out a monstrous roar.

Korra, carrying a man by the slung of his arm, looked at the Inves in gawking shock and disbelief, _"Whoa Nelly..." _she spoke out in English.

"No way!" Mai gasped out in shock as well as her teammates, seeing the evolved form of the monster.

"Is that, even an Inves anymore?" Kaito questioned with his team staring at it in fear.

It gave out another roar and Gaim showed no fear, "I'm not scared of you!" he charged at it, and for something that large in its size, it jumped and dodged Gaim's attacks with great agility like a monkey before it back flipped and kicked the rider in the chest, sending him flying to the side of a building and he fell down hard, followed by the rubble hitting him.

Gaim got up and jumped out of the way before the Inves could get to him, and just when it was about to throw a punch at him...

**"ROAR!" **Naga ran up to the Inves and bit it by the hand, from there the Inves stopped and snarled in pain before it shook off Naga, throwing her to the ground making her whimper and tumbled.

After evacuating the citizens, Korra ran by Gaim's left side, "Kouta!" she shouted, getting Gaim's attention as he looked to her to see her putting on the belt and pulled out her Water Lockseed, "This won't be like the fight with the Inves we fought before, but if we don't stop it, then people will get hurt." They looked back to see many people still running away.

Gaim nodded, "Okay." and they both faced the monster.

Korra struck her pose, "Henshin!"

"**Water!"**

A zipper portal appeared over her head and the sapphire blue metallic watermelon came out, and Korra placed her Lockseed in her belt to lock it.

"**Lock On!"**

Her Sengoku Driver played the Inuit tribal music with Korra taking her pose by taking a Tai Chi stance, motioning her arms spreading out, leaning forward, bending her right knee, stretching her left leg away from her right and circling her arms halfway to form a circle. And she slammed her right arm down on the knife-like lever to slice her Lockseed.

"**Element!"**

**"Water Arms! Element of Change!"**

The blue watermelon dropped on her head with water splashing out on her body. Her blue bodysuit appeared as well as her gauntlet and the metallic fruit formed on her head and body with the helmet and body armor, transforming her into Armored Rider Avatar.

Both teams looked at the girl in gawking awe to see her transform like Kouta did.

"Korra..." Mai spoke out, stunned to see her transform like Kouta.

Avatar spun her Mizuspear and exclaimed, "Let's slice and dice this baby...!"

Gaim spun his Daidaimaru, "...and cook him up into venison!"

They both charged at the Evolved Shika Inves before it charged up its fists with the power from the shoulder crests and threw its flaming fists forward to hit them.

"Whoa!" both riders exclaimed as they both jumped out of harm's way and to the sides.

"Okay, I did _not _know it could do that." Avatar commented.

As the two riders are busy keeping the Inves from attacking everyone, Kaito spotted Gaim's Musou Saber and picked it up. He looked at the Evolved Shika Inves, busy trying to smash down the two riders before he gave a battle cry and charged. He attacked the Inves with a slash to the back, getting its attention when it charged up its flaming hands and it spun around dodging Kaito's attack. It then kicked Kaito right next to Gaim and Korra.

"Hey!" Gaim shouted.

The Inves roared once more, approaching the three.

"We gotta protect him!" Gaim yelled, coming in between Kaito and the Inves.

"Right!" Avatar shouted, following him and they both grabbed the knife lever on their Drivers, pushing them three times in unison.

"**Soiya/Element!"**

"**Orange/Water Sparking!"**

Their fruit armors folded up to their original positions as Gaim used it to block the Inves' punch to throw it off guard and Avatar rammed into its stomach throwing it off. Gaim's armor folded back as well as Avatar and the former looked to Kaito.

"Hey, hand over that lock you promised us!" Gaim said to him.

"What?!" Kaito demanded.

Avatar looked to him and pointed out, "You promised him that you'll hand it over to him when he won that match! And a lot of people will get hurt if we don't do something!"

Gaim then offered his hand, "So come on! Hand it over!" Kaito slapped it way and tossed his Musou Saber to him before getting up.

He brought out the Pineapple Lockseed and looked at it before handing it over to the orange rider, in which he took it.

"Thank you." Gaim thanked before he unlocked the Orange Lockseed form his Driver.

**"******Lock Off!"****

He unlocked his new Lockseed.

"**Pine!"**

He placed it in his Driver before locking it.

**"**Lock On!"****

His orange armor disappeared and a zipper portal appeared over his head, only this time a giant metallic pineapple came out. He sliced his Lockseed using his knife-like lever.

**"**Soiya!"****

Like with the metal orange and blue watermelon, the pineapple dropped on his head and formed a new armor.

**"**Pine Arms! Funsai Destroy!"****

The pineapple formed down, covering Gaim's head before it came down with the front folding together to form a chest plate with black sides and square metal studs that are covered jagged and widened. The sides on his shoulders folded, becoming a drawn-out and impenetrable armor which concealed his arms down to his wrists. The back section was also folded down into protective studded steel. Even Gaim's helmet has changed, with the helmet section becoming more like a samurai with solid yellow square studs with green decoration near the crown. The visor's color has changed as well, from orange to yellow, making it look like a pineapple slice. And in his hand was a black handle that's connected to a chain and mace-like weapon with the mace shaped like a pineapple. This is Kamen Rider Gaim in Pine Arms and he wields the Pine Iron.

Kaito looked startled as he stared at Gaim's new form while Avatar looked at him with amazement.

"Now that's a cool looking armor you got there." Avatar commented in approval.

Gaim looked to his new weapon, "This feels different for some reason." And while the two riders were looking at his new form, they didn't notice the Evolved Shika Inves jumped up over them before they dodged in time and Gaim smacked its face with his Pine Iron, and Korra thrust her Mizuspear at it making it step back. But the Inves countered by smacking Gaim to the side, but missed Avatar when she ducked down.

"Come at me Shikazilla!" Gaim challenged and he twirled around his Pine Iron from left to right and smacked it against the Inves' face, and destroying some of the armor off of it. It was then that the iron got stuck onto the Inves' right arm before it yanked the wire along with Gaim in the air.

"Time for Plan B!" Gaim exclaimed before he connected the Musou Saber's handle to his Pine Iron's, making it a Kusarigama.

While Gaim was flying in the air, Avatar sliced her Lockseed three times once more.

**"Element**!"****

**"**Water Sparking!"****

She slowly spun her Mizuspear that's emitting flashing blue energy until it increased speed up to a circle. It was spinning so fast that it looked like a buzzsaw, and she threw it at the Inves' arm when it was about to collide with Gaim. From there the Mizuspear was spinning so fast that it sliced off the arm where Gaim's Pine Arm was. And the Pineapple Rider slashed it in the shoulder with his Musou Saber before he pulled off the iron off severed arm and landed back on his feet.

"Hold on you big ape!" Gaim exclaimed as he chased after the monster. Team Gaim and Baron ran up to see the fight scene, but instead, they met up with the one armed Evolved Shika Inves. Just when it was about to raise up its left arm to smash the Beat Rider teams, the Mizuspear came back like a boomerang and sliced off its left arm and went back into Avatar's hands. Gaim then threw his Musou Saber, wrapping around its antlers, "I won't let you!"

And he went for the lever again to push it one more time.

**"**Soiya!"****

**"**Pine Squash!"****

Gaim tossed the spiked pineapple in the air like a ball and jumped after it. Once he was high enough, he kicked it like a soccer ball with a flashing surge of yellow energy coming out. And once it came towards the Inves, it grew in size until the fruit covered its head with the creature shaking his head trying to free itself from the large fruit.

Gaim was then pushed by an invisible force and extended his leg into a flying kick with yellow energy surging throughout his kick and himself.

"Ha~! Seiha!" Gaim yelled, delivering a strong flying side kick like he did with the Lizard Inves. He smashed through its torso, creating a hole and landed back on the ground with ease.

The Inves behind him howled in agony with the yellow power surging through its body after it was kicked, forming a huge pineapple slice before it collapsed and exploded. The giant Pine Iron exploded as well with pineapple slices flying about in all directions.

Without even looking back, Gaim cheered, "Hell yeah!"

Everyone, after they braced themselves from the explosion that never reached them, looked at Gaim in amazement to see him defeat the large Inves.

"He won... didn't he?" Micchy asked slowly, unsure of what he just saw.

Rat turned to him and cheerfully confirmed, "He did!" and he looked to the others, "We've won!"

Chucky added, "That's Kouta-san for you!"

"He's so cool!" Rica said excitedly.

"Kouta..." was all Mai could say before she and the team ran up to him.

"Yosha!" Gaim cheered.

"Kouta-san!"

"Guys!"

"Way to go Kouta!"

Mai didn't say anything as she looked at him before looking to Avatar.

Avatar looked at the Beat Rider group with a hand on her hip and closed up her Lockseed to revert back to Korra, "Congratulations Kouta." she congratulated with a smile, "You sure gave one hell of a show for protecting everyone and Gaim's reputation." even though she helped evacuating the citizens out of there and helping him fight the monster, Kouta was the one who finished it off. And he still would have defeated it even if he was alone.

A bark was heard and Korra turned to see Naga run up to her and nuzzled her head on her stomach, "Hey Naga." she greeted as she petted her head and she heard her whine, "Aw, it's okay girl, even if Kouta did defeat the Inves with my help, I'm sure he would have finished it off by himself."

Mai looked to Gaim before he reverted back to Kouta, "Kouta..." she said before she gestured her head to see something, or _someone,_ and the young man gazed to her direction to see Korra and Naga.

Just when they were about to leave, Kouta and the others approached her.

"Korra." Kouta called out, getting her to turn to him, "I just wanted to say that if you hadn't helped me out in defeating the Inves..." his arms draped around Micchy and Rat's necks, "My friends wouldn't be here today. So, thank you."

The Beat Rider group ran up to her and thanked her.

"Thank you!"

"Thank you very much!"

"That was amazing!"

Korra, over flooded by their thanks and praise, gave them a kind smile, glad to be praised by them and to see them and everyone else safe. She came here to see the Inves Game between two Beat Rider teams, but not only got to see the game, she participated in it.

Team Baron, who were looking at the Beat Rider team and Korra were speechless.

"Kaito!" Zack called out to his leader.

"Just what the hell is he?" Kaito demanded in a low tone.

Back with Team Gaim, the group lifted up Korra on Kouta's shoulders with people cheering for them. They both smiled and held out V-signs for victory.  
"We're the greatest! Yeah!" Kouta shouted in victory.

"We defeated a monster!" Korra cheered as well.

Naga, not wanting to feel left out, got under between Kouta's legs and lifted him up to let him ride her. And they all walked with Team Gaim following, waving at the crowd like they were in some kind of parade.

Unbeknownst them was that a certain team leader and co-leader of Team Mulan looking at the riders with proud smiles and crossed arms. Asami was so proud of Team Gaim for standing up to Baron and they got their stage back.

Opal had a contenting look on her face as she stared at the team celebrating their victory. And her smile grew more genuine with her eyes trailed a little on Mai.

The raven-haired girl then brought out her Sengoku Driver and a Lockseed with a Starfruit image on it with the imprint, 'LS-14' on it.

"So that's what this is for." Asami said before she put them away and turned around, "It looks like we've got some interesting competition ahead of us Opal."

And with that, they both left the scene without being spotted.

* * *

****Throughout the city****

"_We've got some nice footage of today's events! During Team Gaim and Baron's long-standing rivalry, two incredible Beat Riders put on armors and brought the beat down on the streets!" _DJ Sagara announced from his studio, informing fans throughout their digital devices, _"What's more, one of them just obliterated the Inves!" _he showed the footage of Gaim finishing the Evolved Shika Inves off with his finishing move.

"_Just who are these mysterious riders?" _DJ asked the audience as he showed Kouta giving out V-signs for victory while riding on Naga, _"Well from what I hear, one of them was a member of Team Gaim. So I'm gonna call him Armored Rider Gaim." _he then showed the footage of Avatar throwing her spinning Mizuspear at the Inves' arm, slicing it off and coming back to slice the other, and it showed Korra on Kouta's shoulder holding out V-signs, _"But who is _this _armored rider that helped Gaim in the battle? If anyone knows, then feel free to shout out!" _he brought out a t-shirt of the Beat Riders Hotline logo on it,_ "And get a free t-shirt as a reward!"_

* * *

****A street in Zawame City****

Meanwhile, inside a moving limousine, a man in his late twenties was holding a Lockseed that had the image of a melon on it with the imprint 'LS-04.' He wore a business suit and a white collar shirt but no tie, and he had ungroomed hair. He was watching DJ Sagara hosting the Beat Riders Hotline through his TV. His name is Kureshima Takatora, he is the project leader and overseer in the Research and Development branch of the Yggdrasill Corporation.

"Armored Riders huh?" Takatora questioned before he shrugged, looking happy and angry at this announcement, "No matter. Things are proceeding as planned." he looked up as he pulled out his sunglasses to hide the emotions in his eyes and reached into his pocket again to bring out the Air Lockseed, "But about that girl..." he trailed off while clutching onto the Lockseed, which anyone can tell that he's angry. It was then he received a phone call and picked it up, "Hello."

_"Sir, our prisoner Jin is ready to talk." _a voice said over the phone.

"I see. I'll be there as soon as I can." He said before closing it and putting the Air Lockseed away and laid his head back on his seat to relax.

And the limo was heading towards Yggdrasil Tower.

* * *

****Next Time on Kamen Rider Gaim/Avatar:****

****Chapter 4: Starfruit Rider, Mulan! And Avatar's Bending!****

"Should I join Team Gaim Naga?" Korra asked her friend.

"I hope you don't mind, but we have a guest!" Pema said introducing Korra to Kouta and Mai.

"Let's duel." Asami said, unlocking her Lockseed and change into Armored Rider Mulan.

"The name's Bolin, and this is my brother Mako." Bolin said introducing himself and his brother.

"Bring it on!" Avatar exclaimed as she placed her Water Lockseed into her gauntlet and her armor disappeared.

**"**Bending! Water Charge!" ****Avatar threw a water whip at her opponent.

* * *

****Okay that's the third chapter I've made for this story, and tell me what you think. I've decided to add a few characters to this chapter. Mai's father as an OC in the next one. Pema, her children, and Opal. I'm making Pema as Mai's aunt, who is her father's sister. And what is Opal's relationship with Mai? (Well, I think you all know what it is.) As for Zack and the Baron members being jerks to Gaim, they'll turn around eventually in the future chapters. Now the reason why I made Zack bring up Mai's mother is because I want to show you how mean those Baron bullies were, and who they are now are more important than who they were in the past. For Lin's attitude for Mitsuzane, I'd rather not say, because that will be rushing the story. I've changed Mr. Chung to Chung-san. I'll be adding more characters to this story from Legend of Korra. ********And FYI I'll be busy studying for the final exams, so until then I wish you all to be patient and wait for the next chapter until Christmas or early. Thank you!****

* * *

**List of References:**

**(1) Mai's father- He is an OC, and he will be based on one of the supporting characters from a famous manga.**

********(2) Oogi- Sky Bison from Legend of Korra.********

****(3) Pema- Head Monk's wife, character from Legend of Korra, and Mai's aunt in this story.****

****(4) Kusakabe- The surname is based on the character, Tendou Souji, who was formerly known as Kusakabe Souji from Kamen Rider Kabuto.****

****(5) Head monk/Mai's uncle- He will be in next chapter. He is Head monk of a Buddhist Temple, and you all know who he is.****

******(6)** Pema's children- Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo from Legend of Korra.****

**(7) Opal- A character from Legend of Korra.**


	4. Starfruit Rider Mulan! Avatar's Bending!

**Okay folks, here's another chapter for y'all. And before you yell at me, I just want to say that I'm sorry for not working on this months ago. I was in a rut when I failed my History and Math classes last Fall and was forced into procastination and a bit of depression. But don't worry, I didn't give up on this story and I don't think I ever will for the time being. (Unless I give this story up for adoption.) Anyway in this chapter, you'll find some parts that were from the previous preview from the last chapter and the martial arts used in this were not of the Avatar or Legend of Korra series. And a little heads up, there are subplots in this story.**

**Please enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kamen Rider Gaim or Legend of Korra**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Starfruit Rider Mulan! And Avatar's Bending!**

**Yggdrasil Headquarters**

Kureshima Takatora was walking through the hallways with an employee dressed in black walking next to him.

"Just to clarify things, you and the others have questioned all other employees or anyone else who were associated with or even talked to Shin?" was the first thing Takatora asked since he arrived.

"Affirmative." the employee answered while looking through some papers on a clipboard, "They have nothing to do with his activities of his infiltration. We're even checking through records including ours as we speak."

Takatora nodded, "Good. One spy is enough for Yggdrasil to handle, two or more will send this corporation through a wild goose chase."

The man agreed, "Indeed." and the two are now approaching the meeting room where the man opened the door for Takatora and let him walk in first.

From there, two black dressed soldiers that were with Zangetsu stood side by side with a man tied to a chair and a black bag over his head. As they saw Takatora walk in, one soldier looked to the other and gave him a nod, and the other complied as he took the bag off the tied man's head to reveal Shin, still conscious but all beaten and soaking wet. He had bruises all over his face including a black eye, a tissue up his nose from a nosebleed that still had blood in it, his left sideburns has been shaved off while his other was soaked in water, and a scar was on his scalp.

It appears that before Takatora received a call from one of his workers, Shin had been... disciplined, and interrogated by these two soldiers to get answers out of him.

He hesitantly looked up to see Takatora standing before him, he shook a little, and he looked like he's ready to tell him, _everything._

"I apologize for the harsh discipline that my men inflicted upon you." Takatora said as he walked slowly towards him, "But you were a spy amongst us, and next to traitors, spies get the harsh treatment Yggdrasil has to offer." he paused to give a thought before he stopped in front of him, "But I suppose it's a good thing we caught you before you got away. Because if we didn't, then the punishment we would have given you would make the one you went through seemed like a simple trip to a day spa. In any case, you are very lucky." Shin lowered his head a little, unable to look at him in the eye, "But enough of that, I would like you to answer some questions before we release you." he lifted his chin up to make him look at him in his cold narrowed eyes, "_Who_ are you working for?" Even if Shin was a spy, he was willing to let him go, and whoever he was working for is their problem now. Hell, he would even so much give him another black eye if he wasn't merciful.

* * *

**(The scene now zipped to reveal the opening)**

**(Insert OP: Just Live More by Gaim no Kaze)**

(The opening begins with Kamen Rider Gaim, Baron, Ryugen, and Zangetsu in their battle stance with a fence behind their backs with locks. They were then switched by Gaim with Avatar, Baron with Mulan, Ryugen with Nuktuk, and Zangetsu with Masamune. And the camera now focusing on Avatar switching to Gaim who readied his sword.)

**Got it, Move...Wow,****  
**(Helheim's vines diminished as they reveal the four elements, earth, fire, air, and water. They were cut down by slashes until the title of the series reveals itself.)**  
****Kamen Rider Gaim and Avatar**

**Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!  
Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!****  
**(We cut to the eight riders in a room full of samurai armor as they took their pose. The scene shifted to Gaim in an empty world while he held out his Musou Saber with Kouta's reflection under him, holding his sword of course.)**  
****Sabaibaru! You got move. Gendai wa sanagara Sengoku  
Survival! You got move. The present day is just like the Sengoku period.**

(Kouta ran towards the screen, but stopped when a fence with locks blocked his path. He then sees his double in front of him, holding a Lockseed, and he calls out to him. But he and the fence immediately turned into stone, then to dust and blown away by the wind as the other Kouta simply walked away.)

**Dare ga kachinukeru? Kagi wa hirake rarete shimatta!**

**Who will win? The lock has been opened!****  
**(We take the next scene to Team Baron, with Kaito leading in front of Zack, and Peco, who are dancing in front of a building. We shift to Kouta and Kaito, who looked at each other with Lockseeds in their hands. Kouta holding his Orange Lockseed and Kaito holding his Banana Lockseed. Below them is their reflection in their rider forms, Kamen rider Gaim and Kamen Rider Baron, who darted towards each other to fight. We shift to Korra, Asami, Mako, and Bolin who had their backs turned to each other and took their battle stance, and their reflections replaced by their rider counterparts Avatar, Mulan, Masamune, and Nuktuk did the same, only with their weapons in their hands.)

**Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!**

**Doko ni aru?**

**Where is it?**

**Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!**

(We shift back to Gaim and Baron's fight, and in their reflection Kouta and Kaito were in some kind of hand-wrestle with their lockseeds in their hands. We go to Micchy, who picked up his Budou Lockseed and saw his older brother, Takatora, holding his Melon Lockseed. And their Rider counterparts are in their reflections. He ran towards him, but like with Kouta, a fence with locks blocked his path before Takatora looked behind to see his younger brother and Zangetsu held his Musou Saber near Ryugen's neck.)**  
****Do tsukau, kindan no kajitsu?!  
How shall it be used, that forbidden fruit?!**

**(**Back in the room where the riders posed, one by one appeared from Gaim to Avatar. We go to Gaim in Suika Arms only to go gyro mode, and Baron, drove right past him on Rose Attacker. And the next scene shows the characters Henshin with their Sengoku Drivers in order, from Zangetsu to Masamune, Ryugen, Nuktuk, Baron, Mulan, Avatar, and Gaim.)**  
****`Ima' to iu kaze wa nani o tsutaeru tame? [Omae no moto ni fuku? Tsuyoku Tsuyoku! Blowin' up!]**

**What is the wind of the moment trying to say? [Is it blowing to you? Get stronger, much stronger! Blowin' up!]**

(Gaim drew his Musou Saber to battle, and he slashed an inves with his hybrid weapon across the stomach. Next we go to Team Gaim dancing in front of their headquarters, then we go to Team Fire Ferrets headquarters with the team doing their dance, and the same goes to Mulan. The cameras then shifts focus on Kouta, Mai, Micchy, Korra, Mako, Bolin, Asami, and Opal dancing. And we go to Kouta greeting Mai and their reflections show Kaito with the Priestess of Fate, who looks like Mai.)**  
**(We go to Zangetsu who aims his Musou Saber at the screen with an army of pinecone samurai themed riders behind him holding spears. Next we have Kamen Rider Gaim with Avatar slashing down the pinecone themed riders while Baron and Mulan did the same in Gaim and Avatar's reflection.)

**Ashita ga yume ga mada mienakute mo [Soko genkai? Seiippai ikite iru to ierunara?]**

**Even if you can't dream of the future [Is that your limit? Can you say you're living without your might?]****  
(**In a forest, Kamen Rider Ryugen shoots down a fence blocking his path and ran forward and we go back to Team Gaim/Fire Ferrets/Mulan in a three way split screen who finished their dance, disappeared. And we focus on Gaim's outside headquarters to be replaced by the Priestess of Fate, who points towards the screen.)**  
**(Next we focus on Gaim's arms, Lockseed, and Daidaimaru to the floor, and we focus back to Gaim slicing down to the screen with the pinecone riders standing behind him.)

**Utsumuku na yo... [Kao agero!] Doko madede mo... [Mageru koto naku!]**

**Don't look down... [Lift up your face!] No matter where you are... [Don't become twisted!]****  
**(We shift to Banana arms with the Banana Lockseed and Banaspear, then to Team Baron finishing their dance, and we go to Kamen Rider Baron slashing down inves in the mysterious forest with his banaspear and finished with a pose. Next we shift to Starfruit Arms with the Starfruit Lockseed and Starfruit Saber, Budou Arms with the Grape Lockseed and Budou Ryuhou, Melon Arms with the Melon Lockseed and the Melon Defender, Fire Arms with the Fire Chili Pepper Lockseed and Hiegashimaru, Earth Arms with the Earth Coconut Lockseed and Tsuchui, and Water Arms with the Water Watermelon Lockseed and Mizuspear.)

**Shinjita michi o yuke, JUST LIVE MORE!  
Follow the path you believe in, Just Live More!**

(All eight riders are back to back with each other, swinging and aiming their weapons towards the screen. We next go to Kouta who ran towards the fence of locks, screaming until the premature Lockseed fruits and plants grew around him.)

**Don't Say No, JUST LIVE MORE!**

**(Finally, we see Kamen Rider Gaim riding on his horse to battle along with Avatar riding on Naga by his side.)**

* * *

**Zawame City's Buddhist Temple Island: Taiki (1)**

The Buddhist Temple: Taiki, Zawame City's largest temple in the middle of a lake, where sacred animals like the Sky Bison and Lemurs reside in.

And we go to outside to the dock where a large boat on the docks has dropped off Kouta, Mai, Akira, Lin, and a large middle aged man as they all got off and walked up the stairs leading to a temple. They were all here for one purpose, and that's to participate in the get-together that the head monk and his wife formed.

The large man was well-built with large muscles, has short black hair, bushy eyebrows, and mustache, he's dressed in a white t-shirt, black pants and shoes.

His name is Kazuto Takatsukasa, **(2)** Pema's older brother, Lin's husband, and Mai's father. He was a former priest of a shrine before he retired early to become a household husband. One would hardly find this scary man to be Pema's older brother, a former priest of a shrine, or even Mai's father. He looked more like a physical trainer at a gym, and it somehow would make sense if he was Lin's husband. And even though he looks scary, he's actually a nice person and a caring husband and father.

Lin wore her chief of police uniform as always.

Mai wore a white sundress, had her hair tied in a ponytail with a gray scrunchy and wore a metal bracelet on her wrist.

Kouta wore a black jacket and dress pants, a gray collar shirt, and dress shoes, and he had his hair combed nicely.

And Akira wore her white blouse and a black skirt.

Kazuto placed his hand on his daughter's shoulder who was pouting, "I know that coming to visit your cousins may not be your cup of tea. But they're family, and family is important because they'll always be there for you." he said to her as his daughter's pout loosened up a bit, "Still though, coming here with you makes it all worthwhile because..." he trailed off before he pulled her into a hug and rubbed his beard onto her face affectionately, "The pout you make when visiting our relatives makes you cute!"

Mai blushed intensely when her dad acts all dotingly, "Dad!" she shouted indignantly.

"You're father's right you know." Lin said with a smile before it brightened as she joined in on the hug, "Our daughter's beautiful just the way she is!"

"Mom!" Mai shouted before she lowered her head in shame while crying on the inside. Why must her parents embarrass her so?

Kouta and Akira gave her a look of sympathy while sweat-dropping. The young man would have stopped them both to stop acting like doting idiots, but they would most likely kill him if he interferes.

"We're almost there." Akira interrupted as they approached a temple up the stairs.

Standing by the entrance was Pema standing next to her husband and head monk of Zawame City's Buddhist Temple and councilman, and Kouta's former teacher, Tenzin Kusakabe. **(3)** He is a tall middle-aged bald man with a pointy beard, and he has a blue arrow across his head. The man wore a formal monk's clothing which is a crimson red long-sleeved robe with a yellow trim around the neck, chest, and abdominal, and they went down to his ankles, and had red slipper shoes.

Pema wore a Buddhist beautiful long yellow with an orange trim at the neck, sleeves and bottom of the dress. She also wore an orange garment with air swirl symbols on it.

"Tenzin-ojisan!" Mai exclaimed happily and ran up to the said monk to hug him.

Tenzin opened his arms and welcomed the hug, "Mai-chan, you're looking well. I'm glad you and your family could make it." he said happily and they both released the hug so that Mai could hug her aunt with Lin greeting her as well.

The head monk turned to the two Kazurabas, "Akira and Kouta-kun, you're both looking great." Tenzin said to them with a smile, "It's been five months since we've had our last get-together."

Kouta and Akira both smiled in return, and the young man clasped his hands and bowed in respect to his former teacher, "It has, Shishou." and the monk returned the gesture. He would always calls the monk shishou even though he already learned many things from him.

"It sure feels like it's been a long time since we've gathered together and I've been looking forward to eat Pema-san's cooking." Akira said before her expression turned a little solemn, "Although, the one before that is when we had our first gathering without..." she trailed off, thinking of her parents while Tenzin's face too turned solemn as hers followed by the rest.

And Kouta decided to lightened the mood, "Anyway, how are the kids doing?"

"They're doing great actually." Tenzin said, going along with Kouta's plan, "Jinora got all 100s on her grades at school, Ikki made lots of friends, and Meelo, well..." he trailed off, not sure of what to say, but forced a smile, "He's doing great."

Pema walked up to her older brother and gave him a hug, "Kazu-niisan."

"Pema." Kazuto greeted back, returning the gesture. And they broke it off as Kazuto kneeled down to rub his sister's swollen belly gently from the pregnancy, "So how is my soon to be born nephew doing?"

Pema too rubbed her belly, "He's doing fine Niisan." and he soon stopped rubbing her belly to turn to the head monk.

"Tenzin." Kazuto said curtly to the bald man while crossing his arms.

"Kazuto." Tenzin greeted back as he too crossed his arms. And the two stared at each other intensely for five seconds before the tension broke with both men smiling brightly.

Pema, Lin, Mai, and Akira smiled while they playfully rolled their eyes at the two. Men, what can you do? Kouta simply smiled at the relationship between them. Kazuto always respected Tenzin as a brother as the two were once good friends back in high school. And when he found out that the monk dated his sister, he was against it at first, but accepted it.

"I'm really glad to see you doing well my brother-in-law." Kazuto said as he picked Tenzin up in a crushing bear hug.

"Ah... yes... good to see you... too." Tenzin breathed out while slowly being crushed by the hug, "Um... if it's not too much trouble... a little air would be nice right now." his face turned blue when he said that. And his head looks like he's about to explode.

"Sorry!" Kazuto apologized as he released his grip on him and the head monk gasped for air, slowly breathing in and out. Judging by the relationship of these two in-laws, it seems that the large man has hugged him in a crushing bear hug many times before. How does Lin survive with this man, he will never know.

Kouta and Mai both snickered at the latter's father and uncle amusing scene before them.

After the greeting, they got inside, and three young children walked in, two girls and one boy in formal monk's clothing.

The eldest girl around 10-11, has dark brown eyes, and short brown hair tied in a bun on the right side of her head. She is Kusakabe Jinora, Tenzin and Pema's eldest and first daughter, and one of the top students at her school. She's the normal one of the three siblings and is always getting along with her cousin Mai. And she's a Gaim fan, watching every dance performance through the Beat Riders Hotline to cheer them on.

The second girl, around 7, has gray eyes, and has her darker brown hair tied in two buns on her head. She is Kusakabe Ikki, the middle child and second daughter, she is the hyperactive and yet friendly among the three, who is also very social to kids around her age.

And the youngest of the three is a boy around 5, has blue eyes, and is bald like his father. He is Kusakabe Meelo, the oddball of the three. And he's the fan of the Beat Rider Team: Baron.

"Kazu-ojisan!" the three children shouted in glee as they all ran up to the man to give him a hug. And he lifted them up in a light hug, so that he doesn't crush them like he did with Tenzin.

"Good to see you too kids." Kazuto greeted the siblings with a chuckle.

"Of course they would go to him first." Lin said, having gotten the feeling from those the moment they stepped into their home.

"Well, you gotta admit. Niisan is really good with kids." Pema pointed out before she received an arched brow from her sister-in-law, "Not that I'm saying you're bad with them, I mean look at Mai-chan. She's growing up to be a lovely young lady like you."

But Lin shrugged, "It's alright Pema-san, you don't have to sugarcoat it. But I gotta admit, you, Tenzin, and Kazuto are pretty tough to handle those kids of yours." and she thought, 'Even tougher than me.'

Pema gave an unsure look, but smiled nonetheless, "Thank you."

Looking around, Lin counted who are present and found one absent. She then felt a tug from behind and gave a sigh, "Mai-chan, please come out from behind."

"Sorry." Mai apologized coming out from her hiding place behind her mother.

"Look just talk to Jinora-chan, at least she's the normal one." Lin encouraged, resting her hands on her daughter's shoulders.

"I know, but whenever I talk with her, the other two always interrupt our conversation. Ikki-chan's crazy, and Meelo-kun..." she trailed off looking at the youngest sibling in her father's arms, "He's just weird." she always gets along with the eldest child, but the other two… She'd rather not say.

Lin gave another sigh, "Just bear up with it until it's over." but truthfully, she couldn't stand the two of them either. But fair is fair. In her eyes, Mai-chan and Jinora are the normal ones, and she was glad that they were Tenzin and Pema's kids and not hers.

Kazuto let the three down and turned to the eldest, "Jinora-chan, are you doing good in school?"

"All 100s Uncle." Jinora answered with a smile.

The man smiled back and patted her head, "Good to know."

"You're looking great." Akira said smiling to the eldest child, "Nice to see that you've grown a little."

"You're looking great too Akira-neechan." Jinora said hugging the older woman.

Yes, the eldest Kazuraba is one of the sister figures to her as well as Mai, and Kouta as her older brother. And she is very good with kids like Tenzin, Pema, and Kazuto.

The said uncle turned to the middle child, "Ikki-chan, have you made a lot of friends?"

"Lots!" Ikki answered with a big grin. Her uncle returned the grin while patting her head and the two exchanged v-signs.

And he turned to his nephew, "And Meelo-kun, how's that 100 lemur army coming along?" and Tenzin sighed when he mentioned that.

Meelo tapped his chin in thought, "Hmm, so far I'm up to..." he counted his fingers and thumbs up to five before he held up... "One!" he said with a proud smile. And a lemur with wings flew onto the boy's shoulder.

It had two very wide, long ears on its head, a prominently black face with two proportionately large, green eyes, and its fur is mostly white along with several black stripes a monkey-like tail, which is usually black with two white stripes at its tip. His name is Pokey, Meelo's pet and second-in-command of his 'army.'

Everyone, minus Kazuto and Kouta had resisted the urge to keep themselves from palming their faces in embarrassment, but they inwardly groaned. The former Beat Rider found it amusing that the young boy would have a funny hobby like that, he is a kid after all.

Kazuto gave a hearty chuckle and patted the boy's head as well, "That's good to know." he gave him a salute, "I look forward to see them in battle one day, _Général_." he said with the General in French.

Meelo saluted in return, _"Oui, Monsieur _Muscleman!_" _he responded in the first two words in French. He only knows the words general, yes, and mister in French only.

"Anata, please don't encourage him." Lin muttered patiently as she watched her husband put their nephew on his shoulder and shook her head.

"Oh be nice." Pema lightly chastised with a smile, "He's only five."

Lin rolled her eyes, only her husband, and in-laws could understand those three. Of course she and her husband could understand their daughter as well.

Kouta walked over to Jinora and Ikki to greet them. The young adult treated the young Kusakabe siblings like they were his own and got along fine with them.

"Hey Jinora-chan." Kouta greeted with his hand up.

"Kouta-nii." Jinora greeted back and the two gave each other high fives and grasped their hands, "I saw your battle on the Beat Riders Hotline in that samurai armor yesterday. You were cool."

"Cool? You were awesome Kouta-niichan!" Ikki exclaimed excitedly, "When you wore that cool fruit samurai armor and fighting a monster, you were all like, hwaa! Hyaa! Wachaa! Waa~ ta ta ta ta~!" she pretended to hold an invisible sword in her hands and swung it around crazily, "And when you wore that pineapple armor, you were all ha! Hiya! Ha! Hya! Ha!" she pretended to hold an invisible chain and flail in her hand and swung it around like crazy.

"Most of that didn't happen you know." Jinora deadpanned, getting a raspberry in return from her sister.

But Kouta didn't mind as he got on his knees and ruffled her hair a bit, "Ha ha thanks Ikki-chan!" he thanked.

Jinora didn't say anything as she shrugged at the two. Ikki-chan was his favorite, because she kinda reminded him of himself when he was young and that she has a great imagination.

"So are you going back to Team Gaim? Are ya? Are ya? Are ya?" Ikki asked while jumping around him.

Mai looked at Kouta with annoyance before she looked away in a huff.

Kouta gave an uneasy look and rubbed the back of his head to reply, "I'm afraid it's not that simple Ikki-chan. You see I'm just filling in for Yuuya until he gets back."

Ikki tilted her head, "Why? Is he sick or something?"

"Something like that." was Kouta's answer which fooled Ikki, but not Jinora. She could tell what's wrong and that he's exaggerating the truth a bit.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Pema said getting everyone's attention, "We have a guest today!"

"A guest?" Kouta, Mai, Akira, Lin, and Kazuto repeated in unison.

Pema was about to call out the guest, but was interrupted when they heard fast-paced footsteps coming behind them, and they turned to see a certain polar bear dog coming towards them, particularly towards the former Beat Rider.

"Naga?" Kouta asked as the said polar bear dog ran up to jump on him and make him fall on his back. The beast nuzzled and licked his face affectionately, making him laugh, "Okay okay! Ha ha ha! Come on stop!" and she did what she was told before she looked to the Beat Rider girl with her tail wagging.

"Naga!" Mai said happily, running over to her and allow the polar bear dog to lick her cheek.

Kouta got up to chuckle at the hybrid dog interacting with her like old friends instead of strangers, especially after the time she got to know her and Korra after they defeat the large Inves yesterday in Gaim's garage.

"Ha ha ha!" Mai laughed, allowing the big creature to lick her face, but stopped to hear her bark, "Wan! Wan! Wan!" and the polar bear dog replied with a few barks of her own, making her and everyone in the room laugh.

"Mai-chan sure seems like a dog person." Pema mused as she calmed down from her laughter, "She just gets excited whenever she sees them."

"Well she is an animal lover." Lin said as she also calmed down with the smallest of smiles on her face, "That's why we allow her to visit here whenever she wants when she was little." just looking at her daughter playing with Naga reminded her of the good old days.

"Shake!" Mai commanded, holding her hand out, and the hybrid dog happily complied as she put her paw on the girl's hand. And much to the said creature's confusion, Ikki and Meelo jumped on her back, but shook them off after the young boy tried to use her ears as reins, much to her annoyance.

"I guess you aren't so passive after all Naga." Kouta humored as he pat her on the head like the good girl she is.

"I don't think many polar bear dogs appreciates anyone for treating her like a horse." Mai pointed out, trying to comfort her by scratching behind the ears, resulting her to thump her leg in enjoyment.

Akira, building up the courage walked to the hybrid dog creature, held her hand out to pet her and greeted, "Hello Naga."

Naga caught her attention as she stopped nuzzling Mai and walked up to the older woman and sat on her hind legs. She motioned for the older Kazuraba to pat her head, making her smile as she did so, and the polar bear dog wagged her tail happily. It seemed that she feared the dog from before after she licked her face, but is now calm around her, she doesn't seem so bad if she gets to know her.

Just as he watched his sister interact with Naga, a thought occurred to Kouta, 'Wait, if Naga is here, does that mean…?'

It was then everyone heard fast footsteps and in came Korra, "Sorry Pema-san I was just-!" she paused to see familiar faces, "Kouta? Mai? Akira-san? What are you doing here?"

"Korra?" Kouta, Mai, and Akira asked in unison, surprised to see her as well. Why is _she_ here?

"Oh, you know each other?" Pema asked them, "Well never mind then. Now that we're all here, let's go to the dining room and have dinner."

As they walked down the hall, Mai glanced down to Ikki, who gave her the biggest grin she could ever gave to her cousin and the former gave a nervous smile in return.

"It's been a while Mai-oneechan." Ikki said eagerly, "And I see that your hair has grown back. Can we braid our hairs after dinner?" Mai froze as she paled and reeled back up to a wall in shock while trembling like a leaf and gripping her hair tightly. It seems that she went through something horrifying with this child that involves her hair and doesn't want to go through it nor talk about it again.

"Just calm down Ikki-chan." Jinora lightly scolded, placing her hands on her younger sister's shoulders and pulled her back gently.

"Forget braiding hairs!" Meelo exclaimed as he brought out some hair-dye, "I say we dye it pink and cut it short to change her from Beat Rider to _Rock Star_!" he played an air guitar with the hair-dye to prove his point.

Mai paled even more with her skin turning white as a ghost, along with her expression changing from shocked to horrifying, and she hid behind her parents for protection with Lin holding her close.

"Meelo-kun." Tenzin lightly scolded, disappointed in him for scaring his niece.

Jinora gently yanked him by the collar of his shirt and reeled him in, "You too Henna-kun." **(4)**

"Jinora-chan!" Pema reprimanded her daughter for calling her brother a name.

"Well it's true!" Jinora argued, still holding onto her siblings to make sure they don't do something stupid.

Lin comforted her daughter with a pat on her head and held her close before she gave the two youngest siblings an angry glare, like a lioness protecting her cub.

"Lin-obasan is angry at us." Ikki said shaking a bit.

"I-I'm not afraid of her." Meelo said trying to put up a brave front, but ruined it when his legs are shaking.

While Lin was protecting her daughter, Kouta and Korra were conversing.

"So Korra, you knew my shishou from before?" Kouta asked.

"Oh yeah, I was once his student when I was 9 for only a year when he visited Canada." Korra explained, "He and my father were good friends. And thanks to the connection between them, I was able to reside here as a student with Naga. So how long have you been his student?"

"For five years since I was 10." Kouta replied.

Korra looked at him in astonishment, "Wow, you've been Kusakabe-san's student for that long?" she asked before she covered her mouth and gave a sheepish smile to Tenzin, "Er, uh sorry, I meant to call you Shishou. Or would you prefer to be called Sensei?"

Tenzin's response was a shrug, "It's alright Korra-kun. I've only been your teacher for only a year. So it's natural for you to be calling me by my surname with respect." he glanced at Kouta, "Although I wish that I would get Kouta-kun to do the same. But if he wants to call me by my position, then I say by all means."

"Was his lessons really that hard?" Kouta asked her.

Korra nodded, "Yeah." she said before she gave a sad smile, "I could barely hold a lesson or two at first, but I learn to pick up the pace along the way. And of course, I learned other arts after that. But more to the point, you must be really strong to go through five years of training. Even stronger than me."

Kouta rubbed the back of his head, "Oh, I don't know about that." he said in embarrassment.

Korra's smile turned playful, "Oh come on!" she exclaimed as she slapped his arm, "You can turn into an Armored Rider, and you defeated a giant Inves for goodness sake!"

"Only because I had your help that time." Kouta argued while rubbing his arm where she slapped him, "You're pretty strong yourself. I mean, you did help me defeat that other Inves we fought the day before that."

"Well, then I guess we're the same, you and I." Korra mused and they both laughed, along with everyone, minus the two female Kusakabe family members.

And neither of them noticed that Mai was glaring at the two riders with disapproval and suspicion, but mainly to Kouta. This didn't go unnoticed by her mother, she was going to have a talk with her daughter later. But for the time being, they are guests in a temple, and it's time to eat.

* * *

**Dining Hall**

As everyone entered the dining hall, they looked to the delicious food Pema has setup served for each person. Vegetable ramen with carrots, scallions, spinach, and a slice of tofu in miso soup. Vegetable dumplings with a side of rice, and a variety of freshly sliced fruits and vegetables.

They all sat down and gave a prayer with Tenzin speaking, "We humbly give thanks for this delicious food, for happiness, for compassion, and for Pema preparing this for us all. We thank you."

"Itadakimasu!" everyone shouted and began to dig into the food.

As they ate, Ikki asked the dark-skinned girl Korra, "Are you going to join Team Gaim, Korra-san?"

Korra shook her head and explained, "No. Because Gaim already has one armored rider on their team. And I need to get approval from the team leader, Sumii Yuuya. After all, it all depends on him on whether he wants me to join the team or not. Plus I'm kinda busy with my college life and my part-time job."

"That's right." Mai interjected, agreeing with Korra, "If we were to make a choice of letting her join the team behind his back, then it would be disrespecting his title as leader. The leader is like the very heart and soul of the team, and without him, the rest of the team would fall apart."

The young Kusakabe children looked at each other in wonder before looking back at the young adults.

"So why is Kouta-nii is helping out?" Ikki asked in curiosity.

"Because I was a member back then, I can come back anytime I want. Just temporarily." Kouta said to her, "Yuuya was my best friend, and he won't mind if I hold down the fort for him until he comes back."

While they resumed eating, Mai's face turned from anger to sadness, but she still dug into her food.

* * *

**Outside**

After they were done with dinner and dessert, Kouta, Korra, Mai, Naga, and the kids went outside, with Ikki and Meelo chasing the polar bear dog. While the three are playing, the two pairs we're conversing elsewhere, with Kouta and Korra, and Mai and Jinora.

* * *

**With Mai and Jinora**

The two cousins were walking in a barn where four Sky Bison reside in, and the two were in Oogi's den where they brushed his fur with large brushes.

"Are you okay, Mai-neechan?" Jinora asked in concern.

"I'm fine why do you ask?" Mai asked, confused by her cousin's worry.

"It's just that, you seemed upset about something." Jinora said.

Mai slowed down her brushing and sighed, "Has it been that obvious?"

Jinora nodded, "Does it have anything to do with Kouta-nii helping out with the team?"

Mai frowned as she stopped stroking Oogi's fur for a moment, "It's just that, he has his life to live and part-time jobs to work at. And I don't want to rely on his help and interfere with his work." she explained before she continued brushing. While she is glad to have a normal cousin like Jinora, she shouldn't ask her questions that bother her.

Jinora decided to leave it at that to see the older girl upset about it, "So what really happened to Yuuya-san anyway?" she asked, changing the subject, and she hoped to get a proper answer from her.

Mai sighed as she put the brush down and walked up to her. She knew that Jinora is the smart one, but wouldn't stop asking until she knows what's wrong, "Don't tell anyone about this. But..." she leaned into her ear and whispered.

"Yuuya-san is missing?" Jinora asked with her eyes slightly widen.

Mai nodded and put her finger to her lips, "Yeah, but don't tell anyone."

Jinora nodded as she pretended to zip her lips, "My lips are sealed. But more to the point, Yuuya-san can be reckless if he's not careful." and Mai nodded at that. They would always talk about their daily lives of school and Beat Rider's activities whenever she visits.

After they were done brushing, Mai and Jinora both took a rest on a bale of hay next to a sleeping Oogi.

"You know, coming here, reminded me of the good old days." Mai said as she pet Oogi's fur, "When I first got to see the sky bison and lemurs as a child, I was excited to see such strange, but cute creatures." and to add her point, a lemur landed between Mai and Jinora and the former petted its head.

Jinora smiled, "What did you expect? This was your favorite place in the world. That is until it became your second favorite when Ikki-chan and Meelo-kun entered the picture." she held the lemur up in her arms and laid it on her stomach to let it rest.

Mai shivered, "They still scare me to death." she stated before she turned to Jinora, "How do you live with them?"

Jinora smiled as she playfully rolled her eyes, "I have my ways." her smile change to a frown, "Although I wish that Meelo-kun would cheer on for Gaim instead of Baron." she sounded not surprised about Meelo's taste in the powerful Beat Rider team. He was always kind of an oddball, but then again, nothing about Meelo was normal.

"They still get under your skin do they?" Mai asked in amusement.

Jinora replied, "Yeah, they do. And I'll admit, we may have our differences and disagreements, but that's what siblings do. We can insult and make fun of each other all we want, but when a stranger does it and make them cry, that's when you cross the line."

"The same goes for me and Kouta too." Mai agreed with a nod. Like the time when Kouta came in yesterday at the garage and he defended Gaim's honor. And the thought of him coming back on the team would upset her. He's got his whole life ahead of him with his part-time jobs and he would he just put them aside to help her and the team without hesitation. She just hoped that, Yuuya would come back soon and Kouta goes back to his usual life.

The Beat Rider girl looked to the doorway and asked, "Hey, why don't we head to the Bagua Circle so I can teach you some new dance moves?"

Jinora smiled, "I'd like that." she would always get some private dance lessons from her cousin when her father's not around. He can be pretty strict about her getting some dance moves if they aren't traditional.

* * *

**With Kouta and Korra**

The two riders were walking beside each other on the Bagua Circle training ground with Korra kicking a small pebble on the ground.

"Are you sure you don't want to join Team Gaim Korra?" Kouta asked, walking around the circle in a loop, "I'm sure Yuuya wouldn't mind if you joined. And the team would have loved to have you on their side."

Korra shook her head, "Nah, I think one armored rider for them is enough. And like I said, I have my college life and part-time job to work on." she then gave him a smile, "But if you guys ever need any help, you can call me anytime." she gave him a wink.

Kouta blinked, thrown off-guard by her wink before he looked away, hiding his face flushing red.

Korra's smiled further when she saw him blushed by her wink, but decided to put it aside, "So Kouta, you've been Kusakabe-san's pupil from five years ago?"

Kouta looked back with his blush subdued and nodded, "Yeah. He taught me the art of Bagua, or as they called it, Baguazhang. **(15)** Which is the art of focusing on a circle and the defense of eight points surrounding it. But he told me that it's considered the Element of Freedom, because it's like dancing." he chuckled a bit, "And I can see why, because the Beat Rider teams dance to express themselves, to be free and do whatever they want. But now..." he sighed, "Now it's just a fight for being who's the best, and we use Inves to fight our battles." and thanks to the Sengoku Driver, he can fight the Inves, without so much attacking the other team directly.

Korra nodded, "Yeah, that I can get." she said. After all, she was under his teaching of the art when she was little and that she watched the Beat Riders Hotline for over a year. She then gave a thought and asked, "Hey, would you mind having a spar against me?"

"Eh?" Kouta asked while blinking twice, thinking that he misheard her.

"I'm asking you if you would like to have a little one-on-one with me in our armored rider forms." Korra clarified, "Not right now I mean. I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to. And the reason why I asked this request is because we were both of your shishou's pupils when we were young, and I thought maybe we can have a test of strength."

Kouta gave a little thought. While it's true that they can use the Sengoku Drivers, they can only be used for transforming and protecting others, not for picking fights. But the thought of two Armored Riders fighting would be interesting, but can get someone hurt if they're not careful.

"Can I think about it?" Kouta asked her.

"Sure." Korra replied with a nod, "And like I said, you don't have to if you don't want to. I know that you're not the type to go around picking fights, and I'm not that type either." she then gave a thought, "Okay, maybe I am, but I only jumped in to to defend those who can't fight back. Just like I did to save that pawn shop owner Chung-san and the chief of police."

Kouta nodded at that, still grateful that no one was hurt and that she saved Mai's mother without having to transform. And that she helped evacuated the people from the large Inves that was loose after she tried to fight it without her rider form. In his eyes, that was something he could have done as well. And so he made his decision...

"Korra..." Kouta spoke up, "It'll only be a quick spar between us right?"

Korra was startled by his question and said, "Y-Yeah, it will be just a quick match. And if one of us loses, there will be no grudges, no revenge, and etc."

Kouta then gave a determined smile and added, "Then until Gaim makes it back to the top, we'll have our quick match and see how strong we are." and he held up his pinky to her, "It's be a promise."

Korra smiled at his declaration, "Whoever breaks the promise..." she said wrapping hers around his.

"...has to swallow a thousand needles." Kouta finished and they shook. They both laughed at the fact that one of them started a sentence and the other finished it. And they broke off their pinky swear, "I think it's time that we head back."

"Yeah, let's- Whoa!" Korra yelped after she accidentally tripped over a rock she just kicked and fell onto Kouta, who caught her before the latter fell on his back and the former on top of him.

"Ow ow ow." Kouta groaned in pain and looked up, "Are you okay Korra...?" he trailed off before he he felt something soft on top of his chest, and he froze knowing what it is as a blush crept up his face.

Korra picked her head up and replied, "Yeah I'm..." she trailed off as she look down at his blushing face, 'Why is he...?' and then it hit her, she's on top of him and her breasts are on top of his chest! Her face blushed up a crimson shade of red at this.

But at that moment, everything froze before the two as the two looked deeply into each other's eyes, like they're in a trance, staring into each other's faces for all eternity. And the nervousness surrounding the two seemed to have disappeared.

They then heard a cough and two froze in positions, and they slowly turned their heads to see Mai and Jinora to their right. Mai had her arms crossed and gave the two an angry glare, while Jinora had her mouth covered and a blush was on her face. The two riders stood there awkwardly before the two girls, unable to come up any excuse to for the situation they're in.

And they both shook out of their stupor as they realized their faces are inches apart from each other with Korra getting off of Kouta.

"I-I'm so sorry Kouta!" Korra stammered out with a wave of her hands, "I didn't mean to fall on you! I-I just fell and-!"

"No! No! It's okay! It was an accident!" Kouta exclaimed as he got up and calmed down with his blush dissipating, "Besides, you were about to fall, and I had to catch you."

Korra blinked, "Oh, well." she cleared her throat with her blush also dying down, "Thank you."

"No problem." Kouta replied, waving his hand dismissively.

They've turned their attention towards the cousins with Kouta coughing into his hand and asked, "So, uh, how long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to see Korra accidentally trip and fell on you with your chest pressed against _hers." _Mai said angrily, saying the last word through her clenched teeth.

"Umm, d-do I need to leave right now?" Jinora asked Mai in a meekly tone along with a blush, "W-We can practice dancing for another time if you want."

"No." Mai replied quickly, "We both came here to learn some new dancing moves." she gave Kouta and Korra an annoying look, "But right now, it appears that we have a couple of fruit heads here making trouble at the Bagua Circle." and she focused her gaze at Kouta, who reeled back a little by her intimidating stare.

"Are you okay Korra-nee?" Jinora asked, walking up to the said girl.

"I'm fine Jinora-chan." Korra assured as she ruffled her hair a bit, "I just fell is all."

Kouta cowered when Mai walked up to him, and he closed his eyes, thinking that she might him in anger but instead, he found her hand on his shoulder.

"Are you hurt Kouta?" Mai asked softly in a kind tone.

Surprised by her sudden concern for him, Kouta replied, "Uh, no. I'm fine."

"Good." Mai said with a smile before she scowled and yanked his ear making him yelp in pain, "Then what were you thinking?! First you and Korra became friends for a few days, and now I find you trying to kiss her?! What, are you trying to make out with a girl you just met without even asking her out on a date?!"

Korra then protested, "Mai! It's a misunderstanding!" she grabbed her arm to get her to let go of his ear.

"She's right! Ow! Look, nothing happened between us!" Kouta exclaimed quickly and painfully, "She just fell and I-! Ow!"

"No excuses!" Mai scolded, yanking his even ear harder until she let go, "Now leave, I have to teach Jinora some new dancing moves." she then narrowed her eyes coldly at the two, "And if I find you doing something like that to Korra again, you're gonna get it!"

"Why me?!" Kouta demanded as he rubbed his ear.

Korra put her hand on his shoulder and said, "Kouta, let's just go already."

As the two walked back to the temple and away from the Bagua circle training ground, the two had thoughts about their little fallout from earlier as blushes crept up to their faces.

'Her breasts felt soft.' Kouta thought, remembering the softness of the girl's chest on top of his.

'His chest felt hard.' Korra thought, remembering the hardness of the boy's chest beneath hers, which seemed to chiseled.

They then shook their heads with their blushes dying down, 'What am I thinking?!' they mentally shouted in unison, trying to shake the dirty thoughts out of their minds.

Kouta took a quick glance at Korra before he averted his eyes away when she glanced back at him and looked away. Unable to say anything after of their fallout from earlier, nervous even, but can they blame each other?

And so, the two kept quiet about the incident and are probably never speaking of it ever again.

* * *

**Next Day at Mulan's stage**

The next day, we go to Team Mulan dancing on stage with Asami in the lead and her team following with their crowd of fans, mostly females and some males cheering for them. With a mixture of pop and Chinese music playing in the background, it looks as though they are dancing and fighting at the same time. Asami flipped backwards three times before flipping forward and jumped over the kicks by Opal and the other two members have swung pretending to try to land a hit on her. And she flipped forward to land a split with her legs spreading out and held her hands up like a gymnastic girl would.

And she is lifted up by Opal and a tall girl with hazel colored hair tied in a ponytail with a red bow. She wore a red dress shirt with a black jacket over it, and a matching black skort and low heel shoes to go with it.

Her name is Haruka Kamiya, **(5)** third member to join Team Mulan.

Opal and Haruka held up four small wooden boards in each hand for Asami as she kicked two and punched the rest before she threw a backflip and threw spinning kicks to the other Mulan members, barely hitting them after they all stood on their hands and spun, making them fall like dominoes before they all jumped back up to their feet. And they all put on the finale of their performance when they all kicked their feet up to the palm of their hands, punched the air twice and spun around to kick, and they all pounded their fists onto their hands with Asami, Opal, and Haruka still standing and the rest got onto their feet and clasped their fists onto their palms in respect.

The crowd roared into cheers and applause for their dance performance and are all glad that they weren't interrupted like with Gaim and Baron. As the applause and cheers died down, they all heard slow clapping and looked to the source to find another Beat Rider group, consisting of six people, three guys and three girls. This is the Beat Rider group Wolfbats, the underhanded team who almost made first in the Beat Rider ranks.

Their clothing consists of dark clothing like Raid Wild. However, unlike the predatory and hostile team, they've had a mix of red, blue, and green, while one on the left in the middle had light and dark gray and black, most likely the leader, who appears to be clapping.

He had loose black hair and pale skin, almost as white as snow. His name is Tahno Seto, **(6)** team leader of Wolfbats, and is a spoiled rich boy.

"Bravo Mulan. Bravo." Tahno commended, having to slow down his applause. He and his team jumped up on the stage with the all-girl team backed up a little to make room for them.

Team Mulan gave Wolfbats sharp looks as some of them grip their fists and others looking ready to smash their opponents faces in. Asami, Opal, and Haruka however, had neutral and calm looks on their faces, almost like they're relaxed and not threatened by the opposing team's appearance.

After staring at each intensely in silence, Haruka spoke up, "Wolfbats." she acknowledged.

Opal then demanded, "Why are you here?" though she already knew their answer, she would rather hear it from them than the rumors.

Tahno flashed a creepy grin, "Why to make an alliance with you of course."

Asami rolled her eyes, "Yeah, if that's what you call it." she stated sarcastically, "I know for a fact that you're after our territory after we caught a couple of your groupies spying on us."

"Why you-!" one female Wolfbat member yelled indignantly, stepping forward to face them, but got held back by her leader.

"Calm down Sonia." Tahno said to her before turning back to the all-girl team, "Now let's not jump to conclusions." he held his hands up in defense, "We meant no disrespect Mulan. We were simply trying to help you in a way to defend your home base from the other teams."

"And if eyeing our headquarters is what you considered, 'helping,' then no thanks. We can look out for ourselves just fine." Asami stated firmly.

Tahno's grin disappeared from his face, "Then we'll just simply have to persuade you in an Inves Game to take our offer then."

Asami shrugged before she taunted, "I'll take your word for it, Tako-kun." **(7)** and she got a laugh out of her team while the opposing ones bit their lips to stifle their giggles and snickers, so that they won't get yelled at by Tahno.

The said leader twitched an eye before he frowned slightly, trying to stay calm as he can, but to no avail, "That was before then. You were simply lucky at that time."

Asami wasn't bothered by that statement, "Oh yeah? And why is that?" she asked with an arched brow. She knew for a fact on how underhanded these guys are, but were still beaten. Seeing as how confident they look for challenging them in an Inves Game, she had a pretty good idea why. And if she's right...

Tahno then reached into his pocket, "Because I have _this." _he brought out an A Class Lockseed that had a picture of a yellow fruit that has horn-like spines on it, which is called the horned melon. And it has the imprint, 'LS-Lightning' on it. This is the Lightning Lockseed. **(15)**

Team Mulan were taken back by the Lockseed in their possession, but Asami, Opal, and Haruka didn't look the least bit worried.

"And how, pray tell did you get your hands on something like that?" Asami asked calmly.

* * *

_**Flashback Drupers 1 day ago**_

_Tahno walked into the cafe and went into the private room to sit down in front of Sid, who was currently drinking tea._

"_Well well, if it isn't my number 1 customer. __It's been a while__.__" Sid __sai__d __with a smile, __and __he__ placed his tea down on his plate__, "__So w__hat can I get for __you__ today?" though he already knew the answer._

_Tahno__'s answer was a__ smile as he held up a large sum of money in his hand and placed it on a table __and slid it over to him, __"__Just __give me_ _the__ finest fruit that you can offer__."_

"_You sure aren't picky, __are you?" __Sid mused as he brought out his suitcase,__ "Alright, this just came in." __he held it up and opened it __to reveal the Lightning Lockseed, "A new __C__lass __A__ Lockseed.__"_

_T__ahno grinned as he accepted the Lockseed._

_**Flashback End**_

* * *

Team Mulan looked unimpressed and not surprised at that story, because they knew that the only man who would hook anyone up with a Lockseed would be Sid.

"So you bought a new lock that's about worth as your pocket change huh?" Asami asked in an uncaring way, "As expected from a spoiled rich kid like you." at least she wasn't the type to throw away money like him, she just spent hers wisely.

Tahno shrugged, "You can say whatever you want to me. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm the one holding the better weapon."

"Why don't you put your money where your mouth is, rich boy?" Asami taunted, stepping forward and took a quick second to do some stretching.

"What are you stretching for? You think _you _can fight my Inves?" Tahno asked in amusement, "What, you have a Class A Lockseed and a belt like Gaim and the other one that fought with him?" and he got a laugh out of his team at that.

"I don't know, you tell me..." Asami said before she smirked, bringing out her blank Sengoku Driver from behind, shocking everyone minus Opal and Haruka and shutting Team Wolfbats up, "_Tah-_koyaki-kun." **(8)**

Tahno's eyes widen in shock before they narrowed, "So that's how it is." he had wondered why she had a calm demeanor.

Asami placed her Driver onto her waist and a yellow belt formed around her. And it made a faceplate with the blank panel turning into an armored face, a yellow helmet in the shape of a star, with a red background, and white colored eyes.

"You have a belt too?" one of her members asked.

Tahno gained a look of determination as he unlocked his Lockseed, determined not to lose this fight.

Asami spun her Lockseed before raising it up to the sky, "Henshin!" she shouted, unlocking her Starfruit Lockseed.

"**Starfruit!"**

Like the other two armored riders, a whole giant metallic starfruit came out of the zipper portal above her.

And a force field surrounded Mulan's leader as another zipper portal appeared with an Inves coming down, in the shape of a gorilla, but it's green with tribal markings on it with some scales on it, long ears, horns, and a beard of a goat, and lower fangs of a saber-tooth tiger. This is the Goat Gorilla Inves. **(9)**

Asami took her stance as she slowly circled her arms before she thrust her right arm out with her Lockseed in her right hand, brought it back to place it on her belt and locked it.

"**Lock On!" **

Chinese-style Erhu music was played from her belt with everyone looking to foresee on what happens next. And it was Mulan's leader slicing her Lockseed to reveal a picture of a sliced starfruit and a Jian, Chinese double-edged sword with a starfruit sliced starfruit for the hilt, and a yellow-green handle.

"**Hai~!"**

The metal starfruit then fell, covering Asami's head, and her body was covered in a red body-suit, along with a black sleeveless kimono with red linings on her arms and legs. Styled in Chinese clothing armor.

"**Starfruit Arms! Kung Fu Sta-Sta-Star!" **the belt made three last gongs at the end of her transformation.

Inside the metallic fruit, her face was covered in red helmet with a silver mouthpiece, two clear compound eyes, and a golden headdress on her forehead with a small star shaped gem on the top. And her eyes became yellow when a yellow studded helmet in the shape of a star landed on her head.

The metallic starfruit then unlocked and started to unfold. As it fell, the sides of the fruit folded together before it came down on her shoulders as shoulder guards with and onto her arms as arm guards. The back was folded up and went to her back, much like Gaim and Avatar's. The front folded together with the inside facing out, making it look like almost golden-yellow breastplate with yellow-green linings with a yellow chestpiece with a gray stone in the center. And a weapon formed in her hand which is the same starfruit sword in the picture of her Lockseed. Sato Asami is now Kamen Rider Mulan or Armored Rider Mulan, and she holds the Starfruit Saber.

Team Mulan and Wolfbats gawked in surprise at the new rider, Opal and Haruka were greatly impressed, and the crowed cheered on in an uproar for the team's new rider.

Tahno shook out of his stupor before he locked his unlocked Lockseed to start the battle.

"**Battle Start!"**

Mulan quickly took her stance before she charged at the Gorilla Goat Inves with her sword ready, "Ready or not, here I come!" she shouted and slashed down the Inves.

* * *

**Gaim's Headquarters**

At Gaim's garage, we find our Beat Rider team taking a break, watching the Beat Riders Hotline on their TV.

"_Hello! Zawame City!" _DJ Sagara greeted in his booming voice on live TV and webcast, _"Have I got some exciting 411 for you all!" _he replaced the screen to show the footage of the fight between Mulan and Wolfbats' Goat Gorilla Inves,_ "Team Mulan's leader, Sato Asami has just become an Armored Rider and she is kicking some serious butt against Wolfbats!"_

Everyone watching were in stunning silence, to see another Armored Rider appear before their very eyes before they chattered among themselves.

"_Ow! Can you believe it?! Three riders in one week!" _Sagara held up two fingers before it turned into three, _"Two are maybe one thing, but three?! What were the chances of seeing a third?!"_

"Whoa!" Chucky exclaimed.

"Another Rider?!" Rica shouted in awe.

"No way." Kouta whispered in disbelief. She can transform like him.

"Asa-chan..." Mai murmured, seeing her childhood friend transform like Kouta and Korra, and seeing her fight an Inves that's almost bigger than her.

"_And it looks like Wolfbats are taking quite a beating!" _the footage shows the Armored Rider slashing down the monster repeatedly with her sword.

* * *

**Back to Mulan's Stage**

"GET HER!" Tahno yelled at the top of his lungs in rage while controlling the Goat Gorilla Inves roared while charging at her.

Mulan charged as well after her weapon was swatted away and she jumped to raise her leg up to kick the monster's face. But it blocked her kick with its large forearm and began to punch her rapidly, but the Rider blocked and swatted them away with her arms in fast and great effort. The Inves then kicked her stomach as she grunted in pain and flipped back in handsprings and it jumped towards her.

It bounced off the edge of the force field with Mulan jumping up high after she noticed it. The Gorilla Inves too jumped upwards to strike her again, but she clasped two of her hands together in a fist and brought them down to hit the Inves' head. It fell towards the ground and crashed.

Everyone watching the fight were stunned in disbelieving shock and awe to see Team Mulan's new rider taking down an Inves easily.

"I guess she wasn't all talk." Tahno murmured in panic, shocked to see that he's losing the battle.

Mulan floated in the air while panting behind her mask, "Here goes nothing." she put her hand on the slicer and sliced her Lockseed.

"**Hai~! Starfruit Squash!"**

She flew down like a meteor, stuck her leg out after it was coated in yellow surging energy, and slammed a kick to the Gorilla Inves' stomach making it roar in pain, "It's not over yet!" she pulled her leg out before kicking it again five times, "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" the energy leaving behind her kick formed a star, "HA~!" she gave one final kick in the middle, hitting it in the chest and it exploded with starfruit slices flying about from the explosion. And with that, Mulan is the winner.

"**You Win!" **and the force field disappeared, leaving the game to be over.

"To the victor..." Mulan said as she collected the Lightning Lockseed that flew out of Tahno's hand, "Go the spoils."

Tahno hung his head as he glared down to the ground to see himself lose again, after the trouble of getting that Lockseed. And she took it away from him.

"You should have saved your money instead of spending it you know." Mulan proclaimed as she closed up her Lockseed and turned back to Asami, "Now get lost, and never bother us again."

Tahno glared at her before he walked off in a huff with his team following.

* * *

**Back at Gaim's Headquarters**

"_Wow~! Talk about a hard landing!"_ Sagara's voice cheered from the TV, showing the replay of Mulan finishing off the Inves with her star shaped kick, _"Look out Invitto, cause here comes Mulan! Taking _your_ 6th place in your spot in the rankings! Which brings us to Wolfbats replacing Fire Ferrets in the 10th, bringing the rookie team up to 9th! How cool is that?"_

Team Gaim cheered for the all-girl team going up in the ranks. They had always got along with the all-girl team and were glad that they weren't rivals against them.

Mai just stared at her long time friend on the screen to see that she has transformed, and looked to Kouta before she became saddened as she looked down.

* * *

**Back with Mulan**

The crowd cheered for Team Mulan for their victory and that another Armored Rider has entered the Inves Games. And Asami's team also cheered, congratulated their leader for beating the underhanded team once again.

"Way to go Asa-chan!"

"You did great out there!"

"Team Mulan rules!"

"My hero!" Haruka exclaimed before she lifted up Asami in her arms to give her a huge kiss on the cheek.

"Hey! Stop that!" Asami laughed after she was let down and wiped her cheek, "Really, do you have to kiss my cheek every time we win a match?"

Haruka playfully rolled her eyes, "Maybe."

Asami then felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked to see it belonged to Opal, "Good job, _Captain."_ she congratulated with the 'captain' part in English on a hard day's work.

"Thank you Opal_." _Asami thanked her second-in-command as they grasped their hands in respect.

* * *

**With Korra and Naga**

"_And that's the end of that!" _DJ Sagara announced on a large TV screen in a TV store, _"Will there be anymore Armored Riders on any other Beat Rider team? Who knows! But there might be if you keep on watching the next episode of the Beat Riders Hotline! Peace!"_

Korra and Naga happened to be in front of the TV store and was surprised to see another Armored Rider on another Beat Rider team. After a hard day's work of classes and job, the two were heading back home for the day.

"Wow, to think that another Rider would join the Inves Games." Korra commented as they walked off, and she turned to her companion, "Hey Naga, do you think that I should join Team Gaim? Kouta did say that the team would have love to have me on board with them to fight in the Inves Games. I mean, it looks kinda fun." after a beat, they both shook their heads, "Nah."

It may seem fun to her, but she has her college life to live in Zawame City, Japan and she shouldn't get involve in the Inves Games after giving some thought. This is Beat Riders business, and she'd probably get pestered by other Beat Rider Teams into joining their teams to do the dirty work for them. I mean Team Gaim was okay in her eyes, but they already have Kouta helping them out in his Armored Rider form in short time. And having two Armored Riders would be overkill.

Korra then brought out her Sengoku Driver and Lockseed. If any Inves were to escape from the battlefield and go attacking innocent people like with Gaim and Baron a few days ago, then she would have to take them out. She does have the right tools for the job after all.

And her train of thought was interrupted by a male voice.

"Stop thief!" a male voiced shouted. Korra and Naga turned to the source and saw a guy around Kouta's age running after a man wearing a cap, sunglasses, and a face mask with a Lockseed in his hand. The young man had a brood looking face, spiky black hair, and amber eyes, and his clothing is of a gray shirt, blue jeans, fingerless gloves, a red scarf, and a matching red jacket that has the face of a red ferret with some panda features on it with the words 'Fire Ferrets' on it.

His name is Mako Minami, team leader of the rookie Beat Rider team, Fire Ferrets. **(10)**

"Wait up Bro!" another male voice cried, and in came a younger guy following Mako. He has green eyes and black hair, wears a green shirt and black pants, and has the same jacket as Mako.

His name is Bolin Minami, second-in-command of Fire Ferrets and the younger brother of Mako. **(10)**

And on Bolin's shoulder is a little red ferret that's long, soft, reddish-brown fur on most of its body and dark red-brown fur on its short legs. It has a light face with tear markings and robust cranial-dental feature. His name is Pabu, Fire Ferrets mascot and loyal pet.

The masked man looked back to his pursuers, held out a gray ball in his hand, and threw it to the ground, creating smoke, engulfing the two Beat Riders and Korra and Naga. They all coughed by the smoke before Mako and Bolin grunted, attacked by the thief before he ran off.

As soon as the smoke cleared, Mako and Bolin were on the ground, still coughing after that attack while groaning. And Korra ran over to them to help them up.

"You okay?" Korra asked, holding out a hand to the leader.

"I'm fine." Mako said, getting up on his own and not accepting her help.

Korra frowned, "You're welcome." she said in sarcasm before she went to Bolin and helped him up.

"Thanks." Bolin thanked, accepting her hand and got up.

"My Name's Korra." Korra greeted, "This is my friend Naga." and she took her hand out to shake.

"Nice to meet you, Korra. Naga. I'm Bolin." Bolin greeted as he shook her hand, and he jerked a thumb to his brother, "This is my brother Mako."

"Yo." Mako greeted casually before running off, "Let's split up Bolin. He couldn't have gotten far."

Korra raised a brow, "Well that was a fine how do you do." she stated flatly.

Bolin rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry about that. It's just that, the guy we were chasing stole what was ours. And we're pretty much chasing him right now."

"Yeah, I can see that." Korra said before she looked at his face closely and her eyes widened, "Wait, you're _that_ Bolin? Minami Bolin, co-leader of Fire Ferrets?"

Bolin smiled and nodded, "The one and only." he said proudly and he introduced Pabu, "And this little guy is our loyal friend and team mascot, Pabu." the little ferret jumped off of his shoulder and walked up to Naga, who sniffed the little mascot before opening her mouth.

"Naga, no!" Korra scolded, "He is a friend, not a snack." Naga stopped for a moment and barked at the little critter and it yipped back at her, the two then tapped noses, and Pabu jumped on her head.

Korra smiled in approval, "Now that's more like it." she turned back to Bolin, "And your brother, he's the leader?"

Bolin answered, "Yup. We're the rookie team that made it into the top 10 in just half a year." and he stood proudly, "We went through blood, sweat and tears to get ourselves a Class A Lockseed." his mood shifted to sadness, "But now our secret weapon has been taken." he sighed, "And we worked so hard on getting it."

Korra looked at the Beat Rider in sympathy. She was told by Kouta that Class A Lockseeds are expensive. She and Kouta found these Lockseeds in the forest so easily, and she can tell that these guys probably spent a small fortune in getting after. She even heard that the Beat Rider team is a pretty decent team like Gaim.

On an act of kindness, Korra asked, "Do you need any help?"

"Nah, we got this." Bolin said with a wave of his hand before he felt hers clasping onto his shoulder.

"Hey, I can help." Korra said firmly, "I can't just sit around while you and your brother go around on a wild goose chase throughout the big city." she gestured to Naga, "Naga here is a great tracker and can help you track down on the guy who took your Lockseed." Naga barked in agreement.

Bolin blinked as he looked to the polar bear dog and back at her, "But you barely even know me."

"Yeah, so?" Korra asked, "What's wrong with helping strangers when they're down on their luck? I can tell that Lockseed that was stolen from you is pretty important."

Bolin gave some thought, "Well, when you put it that way..." he conceded, "Okay, but only because she's our only chance of finding the thief."

Korra nodded and got on Naga's back, "Have you held onto the Lockseed?"

"Uh, yeah." Bolin replied.

"For how long?"

"Uh, five minutes. Why?"

Korra commanded, "Naga sniff his hand." she did so and got a scent and pointed forward like a hunting dog along with Pabu, "Let's go girl! Hiya!" and they ran off with Pabu leading by the nose.

Bolin looked at the two off with a blank look before he realized, "Hey, wait for me!" he shouted, running after the two as they are off to find the stolen Lockseed.

* * *

**Abandon warehouse**

The three looked at an old warehouse which seemed that nobody has used for a long time. And no one guarding the door, which would make sense to make this place look less suspicious.

"This must be the crook's hideout." Korra commented.

Bolin looked unsure about this, "Uh Korra, I appreciate your help in helping me and my bro, but it's not that big a deal." he said nervously, "I mean it's just a Lockseed. I'm sure that we're lucky, with a little hard work, determination, and earning more money to buy another Class A. And then we'll simply laugh at looking back at this day nothing else."

Korra gave him a deadpan stare before she shrugged, "Okay, then stay here." she offered lightly, "I don't blame you if you're scared." she walked to the front door

"I'm not scared!" Bolin retorted before he whispered, "I just want to live is all."

"Fine, stay here if you want." Korra said as she walked around the building to go to the back, "Me and Naga will go in the back and take the thief by surprise if he's there. You can stay here to keep watch if he has friends if you'd like. And if possible, they might carry dangerous weapons no less. See you then." and with that, she, Naga, and even Pabu headed to the back, leaving the scared Beat Rider behind.

Bolin paled a little when he she said that, "Wait for me!" he shouted, running after the three.

To their luck, the back door was open and Korra slowly opened it to not make a creaking noise. From there they heard some chattering, and they slowly hid themselves behind boxes and barrels. And they slowly stuck their heads out to see a group of 7 mean looking high school delinquents, and among them is the thief who stole the Lockseed.

"There's the thief." Bolin whispered to Korra, who nodded, and slammed her fist into her open palm, ready to face them head on.

Then there was a really big man who looked like he was in his late 20s, who must be there leader. He was bald, had a scar across his left cheek, big muscles, a beer belly, and a Japanese school uniform that seemed to fit him.

His name is Jou, former member of the criminal group, the Triple Threat Triads and is now the leader of delinquents called the Skulls. **(****11)**

The thief who stole the Lockseed handed the said object to their leader. It had a picture of a red and orange chili pepper that had flame streaks, and the imprint 'LS-FIRE' on it. This is the Class A, Fire Lockseed. **(13)**

"Our Lockseed." Bolin whispered again.

Jou flashed a malicious grin and held up the Lockseed like a trophy, "With this Lockseed, we will release the monster from within, tame it as our own, and use it to take down anyone who gets in our way!" he declared loudly.

"Take down who gets in our way!" his peons repeated.

"That's right men." Jou said before he shouted again, "We'll rule the streets!"

"Rule the streets!"

Not deciding to take it anymore, Korra jumped out, along with Naga and Pabu, ready to fight them.

"Give back the Lockseed!" she demanded.

"Give back the Lockseed!" they shouted in unison, repeating Korra's words and they looked confused, "Huh?" and they looked to see Korra and her posse.

"Who the hell are you?!" one peon demanded, holding up a wooden sword, while the others held up pipes and wooden boards with nails in them.

"Like I'd tell you! We're here to take back what you just stole!" Korra yelled, pointing at them.

Bolin then whispered from behind the box, "Uh, you know Korra, it's not that big a deal. I mean-"

"Shut up and stay down Bolin." Korra ordered and he complied.

Jou then walked forward with an unimpressed look, "I don't know who you are kid, and I don't care. But I'll tell you one thing." he said before he spun the Lockseed, "Kids like you shouldn't nor deserve to use these dangerous toys in the first place."

"And you adults shouldn't take what doesn't belong to you." Korra said firmly, taking her fighting stance along with Naga and Pabu who growled and hissed.

"Big words coming from a little lady." the big man said gruffly, putting the Lockseed in his pocket.

"Come on Korra." Bolin pleaded, wanting to pull her arm away from here, but couldn't, "Let's get out of here."

"No way." Korra said without hesitation, "We can handle them on our own. You stay here and hide somewhere."

Jou has had enough, "Fine then, since you and your little animal friends won't leave, we'll just simply 'persuade' you." and he looked to the box next to her, "And that includes your scaredy cat friend hiding behind that box there!"

"He knows!" Bolin whispered loudly before he covered his mouth.

Jou ordered, "Get her!" and the delinquents charged at her.

The first grunt charged at her with a sword, but got a punch to the stomach in return.

"Take that!" Korra shouted and punched him in the stomach again, making him double over and he fell to the floor with a groan.

Korra took a crane stance and kicked the another one in the stomach, making him double over.

Another peon ran around her and tried to do a sneak attack after he ran, but...

"Yeowch!" he got bitten in the buttocks by Naga and got elbowed in the face by Korra, making him groan in pain. And she spun around to bring her fists down on his back before sweeping the one she kicked earlier, sending him to the floor to slam his face.

The rest of the three charged at her as they threw their punches and kicks at her, but she countered each of them with blocks and dodges.

The thief, standing next to Jou said, "Hey, I think I've seen here somewhere before." and he squinted his eyes before they widen in recognition, "It's that girl!" he pointed towards her, "It's that Armored Rider girl from the other day!"

"What?!" Jou demanded to him before looking back, "You mean to tell me that you stole that Lockseed from her? Of all people?!"

The thief shook his head, "No! I swear, I stole it from that rookie team Fire Ferrets only! Honest! I didn't know that she was with them. I thought she was a member of Team Gaim!"

Jou clenched his teeth in anger and broke a wooden sword with his bare hands, "How can something like this have happened?" he asked with a growl before he looked to Bolin, poking out of his head and smiled, "Hey, I got a new job for you."

Bolin from behind the box, watched Korra in awe and amazement to see her fighting three delinquents at ease at the same time without getting hit.

After having enough of their attacks, Korra finished them off with kneeing, punching and kicking their faces and stomachs, making them all fall to the floor. The ones trying to get up had Pabu scratch all over their faces and went back to being unconscious.

"And now for you...!" Korra declared, turning to the leader.

"Hold it right there!" a voice shouted from behind and Korra looked back with her eyes widen to see the thief holding Bolin hostage with a knife near his neck, "Unless you want your friend to live, you do as we say!"

"Maybe you should do as they say Korra!" Bolin shouted in fear, "I want to live after all!"

Korra clenched her fists and gritted her teeth in anger, angry that she can't do anything with a hostage. But little did they know, was Pabu walking up on the railings leading to upstairs and walked on the railings, right above where Bolin and his captor is.

The leader of the group clapped slowly, applauding his peon, "Well done Sen." **(12)** Jou congratulated, "Now she can't fight back or run away." he then brought out the Fire Lockseed, "Because we've got her right where we want her to be."

Just when he was about to unlock his Lockseed, a voice stopped him.

"If you're so tough, why don't you fight as well?!" a voice yelled, and Jou looked to the left to see Mako hold up a metal pipe in his hands and whacked the bigger man's hand, making him drop the Lockseed. But Mako didn't stop there as he hit him in the face, the stomach, and chest, making him grunt in pain.

Pabu then jumped off from the railing and landed on Sen's face, scratching all over him and he screamed in pain, and released Bolin. And the said Beat Rider, now free, punched the thieving peon's face real hard after Pabu jumped off and he fell hard to the floor.

"Serves you right." Bolin said firmly as he dusted his hands as if they were dirty, "Thanks Pabu." the said ferret crawled up to his leg and on his shoulder, squeaked in response.

Back to Mako and Jou, considering the man's size, he didn't seemed grazed by the pipe attacks, the last one though, ripped his shirt a little, which made him furious.

"_That,_ was my favorite shirt." Jou grumbled angrily as he took the pipe out of the Beat Rider's leader hand and bend it like a straw before dropping it, "It cost me a fortune." Mako backed up a little, but stood his ground when the big man slowly walk towards him with his hands out to strangle him.

"Oh no you don't!" Korra proclaimed, pulling out her Driver and placed it on her waist. And she brought out her Water Lockseed before shouting, "Henshin!"

"**Water!"**

Jou looked back to her before turning to his men, "Don't let her transform!" he barked, but saw that his minions couldn't get up after being beaten so easily, "Weaklings."

"**Lock On!"**

"Hiya!" Korra yelled, kicking the metallic blue watermelon like a soccer ball at Jou's head, after it came out of the zipper portal. Jou screamed in pain as he held onto his head where he got hit. And just when the fruit came back to collide onto Korra's, she sliced her Lockseed, and landed perfectly.

"**Element! Water Arms! ****Element Of Change!"**

The blue watermelon folded, transforming Korra into her Armored Rider form, Avatar, with her spear ready in her hand, and was ready to fight.

Mako and Bolin's eyes widen, "No way." they muttered in disbelief. It was her. The Armored Rider who appeared on the Beat Riders Hotline webisode that they saw days ago.

Jou groaned as he still held onto his head, but glared at Avatar with angry eyes and growled, "You're gonna regret doing that, little lady."

"And you're gonna regret for stealing their stuff." Avatar countered before she glanced to the gauntlet on her left forearm.

Suddenly, she froze as if she's in a trance, and a second later she shook out of her stupor, and she looked around to see that time has froze itself. Mako, Bolin, Naga, Pabu, and Jou, just standing there, frozen as if someone hit the pause button on them. And out of nowhere, 'Mai' appeared and stood before her. She reached out to her Lockseed on her belt to unlock it.

"**Lock Off!"**

'Mai' then handed the unlocked Lockseed into her hand and gazed at her gauntlet where the Lockseed porthole is. Knowing where she's going with this, Avatar placed it in, "Like this?" the rider asked as she locked it.

"**Lock On!"**

"**Bending! Water Charge!" **her gauntlet shouted while glowing. And suddenly, her weapon and armor turned into water, but to her shock they were flowing and floating around her arms and legs, like snakes wrapping around her limbs.

"Wha- What is this?" Avatar asked in shock and amazement, seeing the water flowing around her and glanced at the gauntlet, "Is this a new power?" she asked 'Mai', but found her to be gone.

And time surrounding her seemed to be going again with Jou charging at her. Avatar, relying on instinct, shot an upward kick to his chin, and to surprise her even more, the water around her leg shot up to hit him, making him grunt and back away while rubbing his chin in pain.

"Whoa." Avatar commented before glancing back at her Lockseed in her gauntlet, "Huh, I guess I know why it's called the Water Lockseed." and she looked back at Jou with determination, "Ha~!" Avatar shouted, readying her glowing gauntlet as she balled her hand into a fist with her water forming into a fist, and she shot forward hitting him in the face and sent him skidding while grunting in pain.

Avatar, taking a boxing stance, was now throwing punches with her water forming into fists and punching the man in the face over and over again, as he was being pummeled.

Bolin, watching the fight in great awe, asked his brother, "Did you know that she can do that?" Mako, not taking his eyes off the fight, shook his head, "Good, neither did I."

Avatar threw kicks this time, slamming the water kicks to the big man's stomach before she readied all her water onto her leg and took another stance.

"One more time." Avatar said, running up to the big man and flew a side kick to aim at his stomach, "HAAA~!" the water formed into foot, hitting Jou's face once more, sending him flying into a couple of boxes and crashed. He laid there unconscious with blood running out of his nose, bruises all over him, birds flying over his head, and eyes turning into Xs.

Avatar sighed before she flipped her Lockseed and took it off her gauntlet, "Wow, I can't believe I never tried that before." she murmured, turning her back to Korra.

"Wow Korra, that's amazing!" Boin exclaimed happily, excited to see her take down Jou with her water punches, "I didn't know you could do that!"

'I didn't either.' Korra thought to herself as she unlocked her Lockseed and brought it out to look at it. And then, something gleamed at the corner of her eye and she looked to see the Fire Lockseed, ran over to it, and picked it up.

Korra looked at it before tossing it to Mako, "Here."

The said Beat Rider leader caught it and looked at it before back at Korra, "Thanks." he thanked.

"So how did you find us?" Korra asked with her hand on her hip.

Mako's face flushed red in embarrassment as he admitted, "I... followed you guys here." his face then shifted to remorse, "Listen, I'm sorry about from what I said back then. I didn't mean to be so-"

"Hey, no need for apologies." Korra said interrupting him, "You and your brother worked hard on getting that Lockseed, and you just had to get it back no matter what. I would have done the same thing if something important was lost. So I had to help."

Mako nodded, "Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot here." he said sincerely, and he stuck his hand out to her, "Hi, the name's Mako, what's your name?"

Korra smiled and shook his, "Korra." and she turned to Naga, "And that's my long time friend Naga." the said polar bear dog licked Bolin's face, making him laugh.

After getting to know each other, the rookie Beat Rider team leaders along with Pabu, and Korra and Naga walked out of the warehouse with Mako calling the police to a nearby telephone booth as an anonymous phone caller. Korra learned that the whole Beat Rider team worked at various jobs just to purchase that one Lockseed after they said that they challenged Team Gaim to an Inves Games and lost, because they respect each other. And Mako and Bolin learned that Korra is just a college girl who one day found the Sengoku Driver in a forest, and she told them that her college studies are the reason why she's not joining any Beat Rider teams. And they respect that.

"So you know Kouta-san?" Mako asked, opening up to her a little. He respected Kouta because he's the type to help others before himself.

"Yeah, he and I became friends days ago." Korra said with a nod, "He's the one who saved my life and I returned the favor."

"I see. When you see him, give him my regards." Mako said before he smiled, "Oh, and thanks for bringing back the Lockseed for the team. We really appreciate the trouble that you helped us through to get it back. And if you ever need anything, give us a call."

Korra nodded, "Sure thing." she said as she rode on Naga and was about to gallop away. But Mako stopped her.

"So what's your Armor Rider name?" Mako asked.

Korra blinked as she and Naga stopped before looking back, "Huh?

"Your name." Mako repeated, "If you're going to stay as an Armored Rider, you're going to need a name."

"A name huh?" Korra asked with some thought, "You know, it never once crossed my mind."

"Well, we can't call her Armored Rider Fire Ferret." Bolin said, "Because it wouldn't make sense considering you're blue, and that's our team's name."

"Duh." Korra replied with a roll of her eyes, "So what _should_ I name myself?"

After a minute of thinking, a thought crossed Bolin's mind as he suggested, "Hey, why don't we give her a name from one of the names I suggested for our team name from before? You know, the one that sounded pretty cool, but named ourselves Fire Ferrets anyway?"

"What? Team Avatar?" Mako asked, "Armored Rider Avatar?" he then placed his hand on his chin and looked back at Korra, "You know, somehow that kinda has a nice ring to it. What do you think Korra?"

"Hmm." Korra hummed, "I guess that's not such a bad name. I'll think about it. Until then, let's hang out again sometimes. Bye!" she and Naga galloped off with Mako and Bolin waving at her goodbye.

"Bye."

"See ya."

As Korra and Naga galloped back to their apartment, the said girl had one thing on her mind.

"Armored Rider Avatar." Korra said to herself, and she smiled, "I like it."

* * *

**Yggdrasil Headquarters**

Back at Yggdrasil Headquarters, Takatora was now sitting in his chair in his office as he looked at the closed file before him. He remembered the name of the organization that Shin told him from yesterday.

* * *

_**Flashback Yesterday**_

"_Anarchy." Shin said, answering Takatora's question, "Our organization's name is Anarchy."_

_Takatora raised a brow, "Anarchy?" **(14)**_

"_A terrible storm will be coming." Shin said with a dark chuckle, "And Yggdrasil will be it's first destination." just when he was about to say more, he was grabbed by the neck, courtesy of the director of the company, who glared at the spy with cold eyes, having enough of his cockiness._

"_You are going to tell me everything. Right here, right now." Takatora instructed coldly, gripping onto his neck tightly to mean business, "And if I so much hear any lie coming out of your mouth. I'll make you choke on your own words." he gripped it even tighter, "And trust me, you are going to wish you were never caught in the first place. Is that clear?"_

"_Crystal." Shin choked out as he grabbed Takatora's hands to release him, "I'll talk." he was released before gasping, and was now coughing violently after being strangled. It was then a pitcher of water and an empty glass was placed before him, letting the interrogation begin._

_**Flashback End**_

* * *

"Anarchy." Takatora said, repeating the organization's name once more. And just when he was about to look at the file, his office phone rang, and the man picked it up to place it near his ear.

"It's me." Takatora said, and after a moment of silence, "I see. Carry on then Ryoma." he placed his phone back and went back to the file.

"I have a meeting that we'll be meeting very soon..." Takatora began as he opened the file to read aloud, "Nozomi Korra." it was a profile of the said girl, Nozomi Korra, pictures, documents, etc. And things seem to be looking grim for our heroine for it seems that Takatora has a plan in store for her.

* * *

**Next Time on Kamen Rider Gaim/Avatar:**

**Chapter 5: The fourth appears, the Banana Rider**

"He doesn't know how to use that belt." Kaito stated coldly.

"You should be ashamed of yourself Kouta!" Mai yelled angrily.

"You take that back!" Korra demanded, gripping onto Kaito's shirt.

"Isn't that...?!" Kouta let out, seeing the blank Sengoku Driver in Kaito's hand.

"Henshin." Kaito called out.

"Eh?! Banana?! Bana-Banana?!" Zack shouted in surprise.

"It's Baron!" Kaito barked, transforming into Baron.

"**Knight Of Spear!"**

"Be sure to watch it!" Sagara shouted, coming up close to the screen.

* * *

**Tell me what you think? Can I write? Or not? I'm sure many of you think that the fight against the thieving delinquents is stupid, and rather random and rushed. But I just make something up that comes up to my mind. I also made Lin go OOC in this, because of her beloved husband and daughter. How did you like the get together with Tenzin's family and the fight between Mulan and Wolfbats? If anyone thinks that the naming for Avatar is kinda rushed, please tell me on how to fix it and I'll edit it out. And for Takatora, what was that call about? And for him to learn Avatar's secret identity, what's he got plan for her? That will be revealed in the next few chapters.**

**PS, for Korra, I've decided to hold a future spar between Kouta and Korra. And for her Bending Gauntlet, I thought that maybe when she activated it, the first thing comes to mind is that her armor and spear would turn into water and splashed over the ground. But I've decided to not do that and do _that _in the part of the chapter instead.**

**PSS, I wanted to thank you all for keep reading this story, I know it took a lot of patience for the next chapter to come out, but you all did and I'm just grateful that you're all quite loyal to this story. I promise I will keep working on the next chapter, which would be much easier because making up your own is kinda hard work.**

* * *

**List of References:**

**(1) Taiki- It means "large, great," and "radiance, and shine"**

**(2) Takatsukasa Kazuto- OC. From what I hear, it is a masculine Japanese given name. And he is based off on FMA Sig Curtis, while I made Lin OOC as Izumi Curtis.**

**(3) Kusakabe Tenzin- the character from Legend of Korra.**

**(4)Henna- meaning weird or strange in Japanese.**

**(5) Haruka Kamiya- OC, and her name means Spring and divine valley. She is kinda based off of a character from the TV series, Avatar the last Airbender.**

**(6) Tahno Seto- the character from Legend of Korra, and his last name means 'strait' and 'door.'**

**(7) Tako- means octopus.**

**(8) Tahko-yaki- based off the delicacy Takoyaki.**

**(9) Goat Gorilla- based off of the Goat Gorilla in Avatar. And I made it green because there are no white Inves.**

**(10) Mako and Bolin- characters from LOK and Minami means South. And their surnames are based off of Kamen Rider Black and Black RX, Minami Kotaro.**

**(11) Jou and Skulls- OCs that I made up**

**(12) Sen- means attentively and OC**

**(13) Fire Lockseed- I think you all know what it is.**

**(14) Anarchy- I'd rather not say, but I think you'll get the idea of who's running the organization.**

**(15) Lightning Lockseed- Same as 13**


End file.
